Busou Nin
by HnS-Ryouichi
Summary: Having barely escaped the clutches of death, Uzumaki Naruto is now stranded in a world of alchemy, Renkinjutsu. What is to become of him in this new world? And what of Kyuubi's personal agenda? [CrossoverNot FMA]
1. Realization

**Code: Disclaimer! I do not own Naruto OR Busou Renkin. **

**Ben: Yeah, all he did was watch the anime and be hopelessly impressed by it.**

**Code: Don't insult, man! The story was awesome. Besides, the manga author was the one and only Watsuki, author of Rurouni Kenshin!**

**Ben: You're wasting your breath.**

** Code: On a side note, this is to answer all readers or future readers: Naruto uses an excessive amount of Katon jutsu in this chapter, because it was the least destructive and attention-grabbing. There was no water for Suiton jutsu, Doton jutsu would've alerted the police a lot earlier, and Fuuton jutsu, as you all know, is way too destructive. Raiton is Naruto's opposite, which is Sasuke, therefore Naruto can't learn Raiton and Sasuke can't learn Fuuton. Also, Jiraiya was Naruto's sensei for three years, and he specializes in Doton and Katon jutsu, but mainly Katon. Jiraiya as one of the Sannin would also have knowledge of jutsu of every element. Adding to that, Naruto needs to know a variety of Katon jutsu to perform the Gamayu Endan alongside Gamabunta. :)**

**Ben: Yeah, give it to them!**

**Code: On the side: img529(dot)imageshack(dot)us/img529/5383/minitokyocouplescansbustf1(dot)jpg - That's how Tokiko and Kazuki look. It's kind of hard to describe accurately how they look.  
**

**Ben: This one too: img78(dot)imageshack(dot)us/img78/548/minitokyocouplescansbusgf8(dot)jpg - This is how Tokiko's Busou Renkin, Valkyrie Skirt looks. It's also hard to describe, seeing as how unique it looks.  
**

**Busou Nin**

Chapter 1: Realization

xxxx

"_There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something." Henry Ford_

xxxx

He floated around nothingness, white nothingness. It was like he'd always imagined limbo, except . . . he wasn't dead, was he? He couldn't be dead . . . He still had to become Hokage, and save Sasuke. He still had to make the village acknowledge him, he . . . he still had so much left to do. It just couldn't be true.

'_Ugh, where am I?_'

'_**You foolish meatbag! You got yourself killed!**_'

'_Kyuubi . . . is that you?_'

'_**Of course it is I, the almighty Kyuubi, who will lose his damned life because of your **_**idiocy!**'

'_I . . . I can't remember what happened._'

'_**Even after the other blonde told you not to do it, you used that . . . that . . . Fuuton jutsu again! Against the unholy statue of the bijuu!**_'

'_Yeah, I remember. I wanted to stop that humongous statue from sucking up more bijuu essences . . . what happened? How did I die?_'

'_**Demonic artifact or not, the statue was nevertheless a nonliving object that had its limits. Its purpose is to contain the bijuu essences, but at a slow, continuous rate. You overloaded it and blew yourself to smithereens!**_' Kyuubi growled irritatedly. '_**Now I am forced to take matters into my own hands, or as you bags of flesh call it, saving my own skin.**_'

'_Since when could you talk to me, anyways?_'

'_**Ever since you died and our minds were merged temporarily in death, foolish one.**_'

'_If you're dead, and I'm dead, how will you live again, never mind the fact that you still can't get out of the cage, even with my death,_' Naruto countered. '_Another question, why did I instinctively start talking telepathically with you?_'

'_**Frail as your fleshy brain is, it has **_**some**_** common sense in it. Hearing a voice in one's head would satisfy one's unconscious question of whether the voice was physical or mental.**_'

'_So, back to the original topic,_' the blond jinchuuriki said loudly, '_How _will_ you get out of both the cage _and _death?_'

'_**It is quite simple, fleshy and tasty-looking one, I bring ourselves both to life as separate entities in a new world,**_' Kyuubi said mockingly, as if it was the most commonplace thing in the entire world, to come back to life.

'_So, how will this work?_'

'_**Yet again, this is simple. I will lend you my chakra, as we have no time left for you to recuperate, and you will follow my instructions.**_'

A strange humming noise broke all silence, startling Naruto.

'_What was-_'

'_**Hurry! You must begin immediately! Shinigami approaches!**_' Kyuubi roared frantically. '_**Draw a hexagon with your blood onto the back of your right palm, and perform the seals that I will tell you . . .**_'

As Shinigami, God of Death and ruler of this dimension, approached the two, Naruto was desperately going through every one of the blasted kitsune's commands in the hope that he'd once again be able to live. A new life, without hatred, without glares or cold looks, without abuse. For years he had sought such a life. In the past, he'd worked to mold his future into something better, but now, it was being presented to him on a silver platter.

"**Who dares to disrupt the balance?**" Shinigami boomed, his voice stretching to every corner of the dimension of his own making. "**Who dares to defy my will?** **All who die are under **_**my**_** jurisdiction, and none shall escape my wrath!**"

With that, the floating entity threw himself at Naruto, blade drawn.

'_**NOW! TOUCH THE HEXAGON! ACTIVATE IT!**_' Kyuubi all but screamed.

Just as Shinigami's blade rose and fell, hitting the base of Naruto's neck, he disappeared in a white flash, taking Kyuubi with him.

"**Kyuubi . . .**" Shinigami growled, his fearsome face stretching into a large frown of disappointment. "**I was hoping that you would resign yourself to your fate without much hassle, however, you have tried to cheat death. **_**No one**_** cheats death.**"

He pulled out another blade, which was red in color.

"**Fear me . . . Run from me, Kyuubi, because I will stop at nothing to punish those who disobey me!**"

With that, Shinigami raised the blade and brought it slashing down, opening a hole to another dimension.

"**One world at a time, Kyuubi. When I finally find you, you will wish you had stayed in my realm to die a peaceful death!**"

xxxx

"_With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's own ability, one can build a better world." Dalai Lama_

xxxx

"Whoa!" Naruto cried out as he hit the ground. "Why the hell is it so hard?" he whined aloud. He blinked stupidly at the gray-colored ground. "What's this? Pavement?"

His head rose, taking in all of his surroundings. Tall apartment complexes surrounded him. They were different from the ones in Konoha because they were skinnier, though they were just as tall. Just where in the hell was he? Or rather, what world did Kyuubi drop him into?

Naruto felt a small tickling in the back of his head, and he instinctively reached out to it.

'_**Ahou, I have no say in what dimension we fall into,**_' Kyuubi groused. '_**By joyful that it is at least one with more of you foolish meatbags.**_'

"W-What?!" Naruto yelled aloud. Hearing his own outburst, Naruto sweatdropped and toned his voice down. "Where are you, Kyuubi?" he whispered.

'_**Where I've always been, you insufferable baka, in the cage! Whenever you wish to speak with me, you can merely feel for that connection you felt earlier. I had it created so that it would be easier for me to direct your actions when the time comes.**_'

'_What do you mean?_' the jinchuuriki asked suspiciously. '_Direct my actions?_'

'_**On our way into this dimension, I received all basic knowledge about it and its inhabitants. There exists Renkinjutsu in this world, and by utilizing that, I can be free of this prison!**_'

'_Like hell I'll allow that!_' Naruto raged. '_It would kill me _and_ you would kill everyone on this world! Not a chance!_'

'_**How about a deal then, gaki?**_'

'_No can do!_' the blond thought as he turned away to walk out of the alley.

'_**Oh?**_' Kyuubi said questioningly. '_**I guess you really don't want to return to Konoha.**_'

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening slowly.

'_You . . . know how to get back there?_'

'_**Of course, ahou. Whereas we were jumping to an unknown destination with that jutsu, I have lived in your puny world long enough to know how to get to it using the jutsu . . . However, in exchange for letting you free to your world, I want to become free . . . in **_**this**_** world.**_'

'_Wouldn't I-_'

'_**We are speaking of Renkinjutsu, not Ninjutsu. Their properties are entirely different, yet similar in ways. I know exactly how to free myself, but I will tell you when the time comes,**_' the kitsune growled in annoyance. '_**For now, we must find someone who wields Renkinjutsu. Without their knowledge, we will accomplish nothing.**_'

'_Alright then, what now?_'

'_**We are currently in the city of Ginsei, in a country called Japan. Unlike your world, this one is much, much larger. Unfortunately, Renkinjutsu users are scattered all over this huge world.**_'

'_How big is 'much, much larger'?_' Naruto asked, confused.

'_**You and I both know our size differences, correct?**_'

'_Uh, yeah . . ._'

'_**Pretend that you are Japan. I am the planet, Earth. This world's surface is three-fourths water, but even counting that, Japan's size is smaller in relation to some of the larger countries. Therefore, while we were unluckily dropped here, it's also lucky for us because it is a smaller place to search.**_'

'_Whatever._'

'_**How dare you-**_'

The link was disconnected, courtesy of Naruto. He snickered in joy, even as he could _feel_ Kyuubi's mad rage emanating from inside of him.

'_That connection sure has its uses._'

The connection tickled again, and Naruto tried to ignore it, however it got worse and worse until he was finally forced to answer the call or die laughing. If he knew that the connection could be abused like that, he wouldn't have turned it off in the first place . . .

'_What? What is it, you damnable kitsune?_'

'_**I just wanted to remind you, the technology in this world is different. Instead of walking by foot, they travel by new means of transportation called 'cars'. They are large metal monstrosities that use gasoline, a cousin of kerosene, as fuel.**_'

'_Isn't kerosene flammable? Like oil?_'

'_**They are both related to oil.**_'

'_So uh, waving that aside, where do I live?_'

Kyuubi was silent for a moment, which made Naruto worry.

'_**Hm, I had not thought of that. As a kitsune, I could sleep wherever I pleased. However, this is a different world . . . Your only option, is to use your Ninjutsu to steal some currency.**_'

'_S-S-Steal?!_' Naruto exclaimed, though not aloud.

'_**Do **_**you**_** have any other bright ideas, meatbag of integrity? It is either this or starve in the alleys.**_'

'_Alright, alright,_' he conceded, sweatdropping. '_You didn't have to be so harsh about it, baka-kitsune._'

He walked out onto the street, and momentarily cringed at the mass amounts of sunlight pouring onto his darkness-attuned eyes. Refocusing his vision, Naruto began looking around for anyone – yes, anyone who looked like they could spare some stolen money, and wouldn't be a bother to deal with. As if answering his search, he spotted a frail looking girl pass him.

She wore a school uniform – a long-sleeved white top, which had a blue sailor-collar that had a cross on it, tied with a red neckerchief, and a pleated blue skirt. Her socks were also blue, with crosses on either one, while her shoes were white penny loafers. Easy pickings, he assumed.

She had an air of . . . danger, but he chose to ignore it. As a schoolgirl, she shouldn't need a lot of money anyways. Resolved, he began tailing her, using all of his abilities as a shinobi to cloak his presence and to follow with as much stealth as possible. It was actually exhausting, he had to admit, but it was all for the greater good.

'_**Do not forget to disguise yourself, gaki.**_'

Reminded, he performed a quick _Henge no Jutsu_ to look like any other thug. Naruto had become a little creative with the clothing, after being exposed to so many kinds in his short time out of the alley. Oh well, it's not like someone would care what their mugger wore anyways. It was all about the money, he knew. Even Konoha had to worry about money, which was needed in order to operate.

She stopped suddenly, and Naruto held his breath, wondering if he'd been found out. Her short blue hair and yellow eyes made her stand out easily from the crowd, so it was also easy for him to keep an eye on her. Her most unique characteristic was the single scar that ran horizontally across her nose. She continued to walk, which relieved him.

'_She must've been looking in a store window._'

'_**Take to the rooftops. You will be less conspicuous than as you are now, constantly stopping when she is stopping.**_'

Nodding to himself, he ran past the girl and into the next alley, using his trained skills to hop onto the roof easily, and without anybody noticing it. Unfortunately, he never noticed the eyes of the blue-haired girl slowly following him.

'_**She has noticed you,**_' Kyuubi stated after Naruto had been following her by rooftop for a while. '_**She is testing your skill in concealment.**_'

'_Shit, when did she noticed me?_' Naruto cursed.

'_**It was most likely when she stopped at that store window. She possibly saw you in the reflection.**_'

'_Gah! What a time for a freaking window to screw up this opportunity!_'

'_**Do not give up. There she goes, into that alley. She must be leading you away from the general populace. Use your pathetic shinobi skills to end the confrontation quickly, so as not to garner attention.**_'

'_I know, I know._'

From his vantage point on the rooftop, he could see that the girl had stopped. What scared him though, was the look on her face, which he translated to a 'If you even try to mug me you will face a very painful death'.

'_**Gather your courage, you foolish meatbag. Now is not the time to fear mere girls. Attack and retreat swiftly with the prize.**_'

'_Roger!_'

Crouching down further, the springs which were his legs let go. Jumping sky-high into the air, he fell like a bullet to her six o'clock. The girl's eyes widened, and she whirled around quickly. In her right hand was a strange, gray-colored hexagonal stone. It was about one to one-and-a-half inches in width. Why did she carry such a thing around?

"Who are you?" she said in a low, rough voice. "What do you want?"

"Y-Your money!" Henge Naruto growled, taking out a knife that was in actuality a kunai under _Henge no Jutsu_ as well.

"Your movement and speed, the jump you just displayed, a simple mugger wouldn't have those characteristics," the girl calculated calmly.

'_Shit! Have I been found out?_'

"Your physical build would indicate that you are a Homunculus. Why would you need money from one such as I?"

"Huh? Homunculus?" Naruto repeated, confused.

She sweatdropped as she must've realized her mistake.

"I call people who don't need money but try to get it from people Homunculi."

'_**She lies,**_' Kyuubi warned. '_**Homunculi are monsters that take human form, taking and eating humans as their food source. If she knows about Homunculi, and if that hexagon is what I suspect, then she may very well be the link that we were searching for.**_'

'_W-What?! So soon?!_'

'_**It seems as if luck is smiling upon us.**_'

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but aren't Homunculi man-eating monsters?"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she gripped the hexagon tightly.

'_**Maybe not . . . That annoying ahou.**_'

'_I can hear you, you know!_'

"Busou Renkin! Valkyrie Skirt!" the girl yelled. The hexagon separated, and a flash of light ensued. When it dissipated, it left the same girl, however, she had two cylindrical supports attached around each of her upper legs. Each support had two scythe-like sword-arms attached to them, the final total being four altogether.

"Well, _shit_," Naruto cursed aloud.

"Die, monster!" she shouted as the four blades shot forward.

"W-Wait!" yelled Naruto as he fervently dodged the strikes. "I-I'm not- whoa!" He ducked under a near-miss. "I'm not a Homunculus!"

"Then what would you be?" she countered. "Who else but a Homunculus would know about the Homunculi's true nature? If you were the same as me, you'd have proven your allegiance earlier!"

"Listen, I'm new in town and- DAMN IT!"

He leaped back, nursing a shoulder wound.

Naruto winced slightly at the pain he was feeling. He _had_ felt worse, however, those blades were 'freaking sharp', as he himself put it, and he wasn't keen on getting slashed again. There seemed to be no weakness to the weapon . . . what was it called?

'_**Busou Renkin, short for Busou Renkinjutsu, Arms Alchemy. She is an alchemic warrior, dedicated to the destruction of the so called Homunculi. Warriors such as her use those hexagons, called Kakugane, as the source of their strength. As powerful as she is however, your Ninjutsu should be more powerful. Perform one of your weaker jutsu, we need her alive.**_'

"Roger!" he shouted aloud, and went through hand seals.

'_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!_'

Taking in a deep breath, he blew out a large ball of fire that was about as tall as himself and just as wide. The girl's eyes widened at the incoming attack, and made movements to dodge moments before the fireball hit the spot that she was on.

'_Where did she go? Not to the left, or to the right, or even above . . . behind?! No . . . then, BELOW!_'

He jumped into the air just as the blades of her Busou Renkin cut through the floor underneath.

'_Damn! Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!_'

A dozen basketball sized fireballs flew towards the ground, her being the target. Unfortunately for him, instead of dodging, the four swords cut off the aerial path of every single one of the fireballs. And now, he was falling into her reach. He had no more jutsu in his arsenal that would surprise her at such close a range. Even with Kage Bunshin, the high-speed movement of four dangerous limbs wouldn't make a difference.

'_Shit . . ._'

'_**Ahou. You have no tactics whatsoever. I will have to teach you one day or another. For now, I lend you, the pathetic meatbag, my chakra. Use it well, because that is all you will be getting for now.**_'

'_Thanks, baka-kitsune._'

"Die!" she yelled from behind him.

"!"

'_**When did she-! Damn, release the chakra!**_'

"URAH!" Naruto roared as the red chakra exploded outwards in a sort of shield.

The girl was forced to fall back or risk getting caught in the offensive defense that was Kyuubi's _Chakra no Tate_.

'_He can release that red energy into a spherical shield that can block even my Valkyrie's Skirt. What in the world is that power?_'

She shifted the position of her legs and prepared to sprint for the enemy.

'_**Ugh, forget it you worthless shit. Retreat. The authorities are nearing.**_'

Nodding, Naruto back flipped onto the rooftop behind him just as the sound of sirens came into range.

"Damn! Just wait till I find you again!" the girl hissed in annoyance, using the four blades as legs to leap onto a different rooftop and away from the police. It just wouldn't do to get them involved in this big mess, especially some big mugger breathing fire around as if it were nothing.

xxxx

"_The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." Franklin D. Roosevelt_

xxxx

She slammed the door to her apartment as she stomped in angrily. She had let an enemy escape, and even worse, she hadn't been able to defeat him. For someone so large, that man was able to move flexibly and quickly in any given situation, and he was even able to dodge her underground ambush. That just wasn't normal.

Taking deep breaths to calm herself, she began counting to ten in her head. It had been two days, enough time to blow it off, right? Besides, perhaps it was just a fluke, maybe a guy with an oil barrel in his stomach and had flint teeth to blow out fire . . . Oh, who was she kidding. That guy was breathing fire as if it were natural, and the first fireball . . . it's size was _humongous_! And to let such a big guy get away, it would surely ruin her reputation.

Sighing, she began sipping at the tea that she had just brewed.

A series of loud crashing noises startled her, causing the hot liquid to fall onto her shirt.

"DAMN!" she cursed as her skin burned.

Slamming open the door, she marched over to the next door apartment and rapped on it repeatedly. The multitude of cursing and scuffling inside stopped immediately, and the door opened to reveal a cautious young face. He was slightly tan, and his blond hair seemed to defy gravity. The boy's blue eyes seemed to be locked in a widened state.

"Uh, hello," he greeted weakly.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING MAKING ALL THAT NOISE?!" she roared.

The blond boy shrunk into the corner opposite the door, shivering and muttering about scary girls, crying anime tears all the while. She noticed all of the boxes, but she'd sworn she had heard more than just him inside.

"Just . . . don't make so much noise from now on," she said, this time more gently. "It's not nice to any of the neighbors."

With that, she closed the door, leaving Naruto to ponder.

xxxx

"_The distance is great from the firm belief to the realization stemming from concrete experience." Isabella I of Spain_

xxxx

That girl was scary, and believe it or not, Kyuubi had even mentioned that he'd never seen such an angry female. Beating both Sakura and Tsunade in one blow, this girl just took the cake with scariness. To add to that, she could slice and dice him to pieces if he wasn't careful. Scary.

She was about his height, but had the air of someone older . . . and more temperamental. Yesterday, she'd been wearing a long-sleeved green turtleneck and white short-shorts, toped off with slippers on her feet. Naruto couldn't help but notice how skinny she was, but she looked good like that . . .

He shook his head furiously. Where'd that thought come from? She was as dangerous as females came, and yet he was thinking such thoughts. If she ever found out, well . . . the apartment manager just might find his remains pasted onto the wall. Ouch.

Over the course of two days, he'd been able to steal money surreptitiously without anyone noticing his actions. For the first day, he'd been out buying necessities while he lived in a temporary cardboard box. Now though, he had moved all of his meager belongings into the apartment. He had withdrawn everything inside of his container scrolls, so as to test the girl's reaction when he made a lot of noise.

She had scared him, and if she'd pulled out one of those blades at that time, he just might have peed in his pants in fright. Still, she was his neighbor now, something that he and Kyuubi hadn't counted on. It was the cheapest apartment complex in the city, and it had small bedrooms with a single bathroom. While he _could_ steal some more money, Kyuubi had decided that Naruto would go to school. To _school_. Because the girl was wearing a school uniform of sorts, Kyuubi had deduced that she was going to a nearby school. Of course, looking through the school roster of Ginsei High didn't help as the uniforms were completely different. Sometimes, stealthily sneaking into a building and taking a look at classified - well, classified to students – files without being found out. As much as he despised Kyuubi, the kitsune was helping him out a lot lately, and Naruto knew that he should be grateful.

Back to the girl, he'd noticed her haircut. It was quite unlike any others he'd seen. Rock Lee's and Maito Gai's bowl-cuts had just freaked him out. Sakura's looked fine. Ino had tried to make herself look sexier with her haircut, but it didn't really work. This girl's hair fell straight down at the back, ending just a bit above her chin, going lower down to chin-level steadily. In the front, her bangs were longer than the rest of her hair, going down to about the collarbone, and the rest of the hair in front hung around haphazardly at around eye-level. Quite unlike the others.

Perhaps it was the introduction of a new environment . . . but he wanted ramen. Lots and lots of ramen. Sadly, he knew of no ramen stands in the city. Fortunately, that just gave him another reason to talk to the enigma that was the girl, who was also his next door neighbor.

Naruto stood in front of the door, unsure of what to do. Should he knock softly or loudly? Would she hear? What if she was asleep and didn't want to be awakened? What would she do with him?

**Knock. Knock.**

No answer came from within.

**Knock. Knock. Knock.**

Naruto was sweating now. Dare he knock louder? Faster? Or should he run away and try another day?

'_**Wuss.**_'

That did it. Nobody called Uzumaki Naruto a _wuss_!

**KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. KN-**

"What are you trying to do, break down my door?" a voice came from behind him.

"GYAH!" he screamed, whirling around and clutching the door frame for support. "Don't scare me like that," Naruto wheezed out, trying to breathe.

"What do you want?" She had groceries in one arm while she fished around for her keys with the other.

"Uh well," he began, "I'm new in town so I wanted to know . . . ARE THERE ANY RAMEN STANDS?" Naruto had practically screamed out the last part in his desperation. "Please, please let there be a ramen stand! PLEASE! Tell me there is one, err . . ."

"Tokiko."

"Alright. PLEASE! Tell me there is one, Tokiko-chan!"

The atmosphere around him suddenly dropped, and he looked up shakily to see her glaring at him with under her bangs. Oh gods, her eyes were glowing red! The surefire sign of a girl about to explode into violence!

'_**Run gaki, run!**_' Kyuubi laughed.

The blond scrambled to his feet and made a break for his apartment, but she caught the collar of his shirt and pulled him back to her.

"What. Did. You. Call. Me?" Tokiko grit out, her expression fuming. "Neighbor or not, I allow no one, and I mean _no one_, to call me that. Is that clear?!" she hissed in a low tone.

"Y-Yes, ma'am," Naruto squeaked. "Uh, about that . . ."

"No, there are none," she said shortly.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" he screamed.

"SHUT UP!" Tokiko roared, her eyes glowing red again with anger. "God, what did I do to deserve such a neighbor," she muttered under her breath. "I was joking. There's a stand near Ginsei High, down the street for about five minutes, now please leave me alone."

"T-Thank you!" Naruto yelled, before taking off through the hall, screaming gleefully all the while.

'_**Jeez, sure, get on the bad side of the girl that you need to befriend.**_' complained Kyuubi.

'_Oh, that reminds me._'

He backtracked down the hall and to the corner.

"Hey Tokiko-chan, want to come with me?"

Her door blasted open, and she stood panting in the rubble, her eyes glowing red yet again under her bangs.

'_Uh oh . . ._'

'_**You ahou. You never learn, do you?**_'

'_Time to run!_'

He fled down the stairs and through the streets, Tokiko in hot pursuit. Her promises to tear him apart didn't help his fear at all.

While he ran, she chased. Normally, she was quiet and serious, however, the boy was proving to be a _constant_ annoyance. The first time, when she had spilled tea, that was just an accident. However, she not been able to go to sleep that night. In the morning, she had been woken up by the blond's screaming. All throughout the afternoon, she could hear him through the paper-thin walls. Not even one day after his moving in, her patience had been at wit's end, until he had added the -chan suffix yet again.

Tokiko didn't know what about the boy constantly annoyed her, just that she had to put and end to it, one way or another, whether it was killing the bothersome blond or suffocating him in a choke hold and forcing him to be quiet.

And now, she was chasing him through the streets.

xxxx

"_Man has the possibility of existence after death, but possibility is one thing and the realization of possibility is quite a different thing." Bret Harte_

xxxx

Tokiko had no idea how she ended up having her dinner with him. One moment, she was chasing him, and the next . . . the two were sitting in the ramen stand eating ramen. Strange . . . She should surely be angry at him for disobeying her, yet Tokiko felt a bit of herself in him. While she still couldn't remember much of her own past, she could at least remember feeling the same naivety that he possessed with such vigor. Perhaps that was why she had calmed down. Perhaps it was another reason. Perhaps it was simply the friendly aura that emanated from the blond. Perhaps she was getting too soft.

'_Too many 'perhaps',_' Tokiko growled mentally, 'and _not enough straight answers. First course of action, get him to stop being so annoying._'

"So," Naruto began, trying to start some small talk, "my name's Naruto, sorry that I haven't introduced myself earlier."

She glared at the spiral-shaped piece of fishcake in her ramen, trying to glare it to death. If all else failed, maybe voodoo would work. Would the fishcake really work as the voodoo doll though?

"Hey," he said, waving his hand in front of her face.

"What is it?" she asked, her calmness all but regenerated.

"I was wondering if you'd tell me a bit about your past, just to get to know you."

"Alright."

'_Is she serious?_' Naruto thought.

'_**I think not, gaki.**_'

"In the past, I was a quiet and serious girl, who did _not_ like being bothered and annoyed every hour of the day, whether directly or indirectly."

'_**I think she is hinting at something very, very obvious.**_'

'_Huh?_'

'_**Never mind. You are just an ahou.**_'

'_I resent that!_'

"And at present, I am still a quiet and serious girl who does not like being bothered every day. Is that clear?"

"Uh . . ."

"Is. That. Clear?" she repeated.

"Y-Yes, ma-am!"

'_I guess that means no more pillow-fighting with my Kage Bunshin . . ._' he sighed.

'_**It annoyed me, a demon with almost infinite patience. Think of how much more it annoys her, foolish one,**_' Kyuubi reprimanded. '_**We demons are patient because we are so old. We know how much waiting hurts, how boring it gets when you're doing nothing. Regarding you though, it is a, to tell the truth, **_**nightmare**'

"So, uh, where'd you get that scar?"

Tokiko sent a glare at him, and he knew then that it was something she preferred not to answer. That was fine with him. For all his years as a shinobi, he had told no one of his relation with Kyuubi and Yondaime. It was a secret that he'd been keen not to tell to anyone. Naruto understood perfectly if Tokiko didn't want to share that bit of information with him.

He was on his fourth bowl right now, and regardless of how calm a person Tokiko was, she was staring at him as if he'd grown another head. That happened all the time, it was quite natural to the blond. After a lot of research, it had come to his knowledge that jinchuuriki, no matter how much chakra they used, didn't eat this much. He had deduced that it came from genetics, which Jiraiya confirmed. Unfortunately, the pervert never _had_ told him who his parents were.

"Naruto."

"Hm? What is it, Tokiko-chan?"

A vein throbbed on her forehead, but she chose to ignore it. She was calm, she was calm, everything was fine.

"You keep missing your mouth."

"Huh?"

Naruto turned his neck to see that all the noodles were on the table.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed.

xxxx

"_Happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it." Aristotle_

xxxx

Three days. Three days since that night. She'd been apprehensive about it from the start, and it got worse when he'd asked about her scar. It was a private matter, and he must've understood. He withdrew from that conversation quite swiftly.

Every day was the normal routine. She'd be awoken by his incessant yelling. Afterwards, she'd eat breakfast and go hunting for Homunculi. She always took a bento with her to eat at lunch, particularly because she didn't want to go through Naruto's annoyances three times a day. In the evening, she'd either come home with the groceries for that day or take-out. Then she'd try to go to sleep over the blond's loud snoring. What a world she lived in.

That's not to say the two hadn't talked at all during this time period. Tokiko had gotten to know the blond slightly better. An orphan since birth, he'd had to raise himself from seven up. In the village he'd grown up in, he'd always been hated for some reason or another, and vowed to change their thoughts. That is, until serious circumstances had forced him to move out of the rural village into the urban city. Personally, she admired the spunk that he had, being able to go on with life so cheerily even after such a bad childhood.

She wondered how he could always keep up a smile, no matter the situation. Whether it was immediately after being chased by her all the way to the ramen stand, or if he had just come home after a bad day, he could always be counted on to brighten up someone else's day.

'_He must be rubbing off on me,_' she realized. '_I've been thinking about him and his life story again._'

Tokiko looked up at the clock to already find it ten in the morning.

'_I'm late,_' she sighed. '_It won't matter if I'm late for just a little longer, would it?_'

A moment's silence and a torrent of bad memories assaulted her, testing her resolve. Tokiko stood up abruptly, a cold look on her face. Elementary school . . . slaughter . . . survivor . . .

'_Yes, it _would_ matter. My mission is clear, kill all Homunculi._'

She walked out of the apartment quickly and headed for the final Homunculi hunting ground. The supposed haunted factory which was behind Ginsei High. She had searched everywhere else, but found nothing except for human remains. It seemed as if the Homunculi were planning something, and she was fully intent on finding out what.

She would've been more worried about the consequences had she known that Naruto was tailing her, _again_. What she hadn't known for the past three days was that he'd been following her, getting a grasp of her job and why she was performing her duties. Then again, he was a shinobi. She wasn't supposed to know that he had been there.

"A good shinobi will do his duty, but a great shinobi will do his duty without anyone knowing."

He whispered the wise proverb of his sensei, Jiraiya. Out of all his eccentricities, the one Naruto feared the most was when Jiraiya became serious. When he became so, the white-haired Sennin's eyes became devoid of emotion save for deadly anger. It was during one of these times that Jiraiya had told him of that proverb. Then, there was Kakashi.

"A good shinobi will finish his mission, but a great shinobi will finish his mission without casualties."

Naruto knew that it was just a version of Jiraiya's, but both were true nevertheless, and he'd taken them to heart. Whenever he'd gone to battle seriously, Naruto became cold and calculating, aiming for the quickest and most efficient kill while taking the least amount of damage. He was a genius of on-the-go strategies. When angered and serious, Uzumaki Naruto, like Jiraiya or Kakashi, was a force to behold. Naruto had always believed he'd seen Kakashi's serious side, that is, until he'd seen his former sensei go one-on-one against Kakuzu, a member of Akatsuki, while at the same time protecting Ino and Chouji. It was impressive, he knew, even from the firsthand memories that Kakashi had shared through a Genjutsu using the Sharingan.

"There are no weak soldiers under a valiant commander."

The final saying was Yondaime's, passed onto himself by Kakashi, one of the few who truly believed that Naruto would surpass and succeed Yondaime. Naruto had always taken strength from his faith, and it had always served him well. Whether it was learning or . . .

That was when Naruto realized it. He was going to be late for . . . SCHOOL!

'_**You insufferable baka!**_' Kyuubi raged. '_**How could you forget about something so important?! How do you expect to survive in this world with no knowledge save for what I passed onto you, you ungrateful gaki?!**_'

'_Can you please_ _shut up?_' Naruto growled as he ran at top speed towards Ginsei High. He passed Tokiko, who looked at him in surprise and bewilderment.

'_**Wear your god damned uniform, you baka!**_'

He pulled his pants on as he ran, practically hopping on one foot as he did so. What a lucky day. Tokiko had already been on her way to a spot near Ginsei High, so it wasn't long before he made it through the gates.

"You there!" a darkish gray-haired teacher called out. "You're already late for homeroom. Get to class to get your schedule!"

"Yes sir!"

He sprinted through the doors and hallways, looking for the right classroom.

'_2-E . . . 2-D . . . 2-C . . . 2-B!_'

"Sorry!" he announced as he stumbled into the room. "Eheh, I woke up late."

"Oh?" the homeroom teacher asked. "Name, please."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Let's see . . . Ah, here we are. Uzumaki Naruto, age sixteen, transferring from . . .?"

"Ah, I was home-schooled!"

"I see, I see. Hm, let's see, there's a seat empty right behind Mutou Kazuki over there, brown hair and red eyes."

"Red eyes?" Naruto exclaimed. "That is _so_ cool!"

xxxx

"_You have all the reason in the world to achieve your grandest dreams. Imagination plus innovation equals realization." Dennis Waitley_

xxxx

"Hey, Kazuki," Naruto groused as they walked down the hall.

"What is it?"

"School is _boring_."

The brunette laughed goodnaturedly, which Naruto soon joined in on.

"It was just for today. All they really did was go over all of the rules and pass out schedules. When school actually starts, you'll be too busy to think of how boring it is or not."

"You know, it's always nice to make new friends," Naruto commented after a while. "Friends that can be there for you when you need it, you know?"

"Yeah, it's always refreshing to meet someone new," Kazuki agreed. His hair was spiky and seemed to defy gravity, just like Naruto's, however . . . Naruto's had more spikes in them, whereas Kazuki's had larger spikes.

"I bet that my hair will get the best comments," the blond said out of the blue.

"You wish!" the brunette countered. "Come on, let's settle this _right now_! To the rest of the school!"

Thus, the two spent hours running around the school, asking anyone they came upon whose hair they preferred. It was sundown when the two new friends stumbled out of school, dead-tired and still tied. Tied. Naruto had been so sure he'd win, what with his blond and spiky hair, but it seemed as if some people thought Kazuki's looked slightly cooler.

"Alright, it's a tie. None of us win," Naruto grumbled. "Jeez, I was so sure I'd win."

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Hm?"

"Are you going to sleep in the dormitories?" Kazuki asked questioningly.

"D-Dormitories?" Naruto repeated. "I just moved into an apartment and now I have to move into the dormitories?!"

"N-No!" his brunette friend reassured. "It's just recommended because it's closer to school than anywhere else."

"Phew," Naruto sighed in relief. "That sure makes me feel better, somehow or another . . ."

"What's that light?" started Kazuki, pointing to the hillside. "It looks like it's coming from the haunted factory. Come on, let's check it out."

Naruto's skin felt as if it were going to freeze right then and there. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked Kazuki in the eye. "I'm very superstitious, Kazuki, and I'd rather not go up there. You shouldn't either."

"Hm? Why not?"

"You wouldn't want to get killed by spirits, would you?" the blond questioned. "Would you? Would you?" he repeated.

"Well, no, but the haunted building stuff always turns out to be rumors. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow. See you later, Naruto!" he called as he ran off towards the factory, his goofy grin on.

'_That baka, he doesn't know when to take a hint._'

'_**I can say the same to you, **_**meatbag**' Kyuubi growled. '_**Go after him. We do not need any unnecessary deaths.**_'

'_Right._'

He followed Kazuki silently up the winding trail. His new friend began to tire, slowly and steadily, as he made his way to the top. He wouldn't be able to run from Homunculi in such a state, unless it moved at a snail's pace. If he didn't rest and think before barging into the factory, Kazuki would very well get himself killed. Naruto wasn't willing to sacrifice anyone's life in the crossfire that he and Tokiko would eventually become involved in. Without making a single noise, he as a shadow entered the factory before Kazuki did, ensuring his safety from the point.

"Who's there?" Tokiko's voice echoed when he accidentally splashed some water.

"I-It's me, Naruto," he called out. "I saw the light so I came to see what was wrong."

She turned to him, her eyes dangerously glinting in the dim light.

"Leave now, Naruto. I'm in here for personal reasons, and you have no right to intrude." They continued to walk, with Tokiko trying to convince her neighbor to leave. Fortunately, both of them sensed the large presence behind them. It wasn't well hidden, and any amateur would be able to feel it coming from a mile away. Sadly for the two, that was when Kazuki showed up and saw the large snake following them.

'_Naruto!_' he realized. '_He told me that he's a superstitious person, and that he wouldn't want to come here . . . Could it be that he went on ahead of me because he didn't want me killed by ghosts? Well, he's about to get eaten! And that girl, what's she doing here? This has got to be a dream, right? This has got to be a dream!_'

The large, white snake's tail reached back, and then thrust itself towards Tokiko.

"Get out of the way!" Kazuki yelled, surprising both of them. He pushed Tokiko away, but not before the tail impaled him, puncturing his heart.

Naruto stared in disbelief at the sight, while Tokiko glared at him, as if to say, 'You brought a friend?'. The snake lifted up the brunette and threw him away to the side. As Kazuki's life trickled away in those last seconds, Naruto could feel a burning rage consuming him. The rage to kill, to slaughter whoever had done this, to an innocent high-schooler.

'_**Yes, awaken your primal instincts, gaki. Awaken your strength, your infinite chakra supply and unstoppable anger. Only then will you become a worthy container.**_'

"You . . . Kazuki . . . YOU BASTARD!" Naruto roared, going through hand seals. He could see Tokiko's shocked expression by using his peripheral vision, and he silently apologized to her for tricking her for the entire time that he'd known her.

'_Katon: Karyuu Endan!_'

Fire bloomed out of his mouth and outwards, the flamethrower shaped like a dragon shooting forward. With heats of four-hundred to five-hundred degrees Celsius, the flames practically melted a small path in the floor as it traveled over it. The white snake's eyes widened as the flames impacted. It roared in pain and withdrew immediately, but not before suffering several severe burns.

"COME BACK HERE, HEBI-TEME!" Naruto roared. As he was about to run deeper, Tokiko caught his arm and pulled him back.

"YOU!" she all but yelled at him.

"Me, what?" he asked emotionlessly. "You mean me? The guy who tried to take money from you on that first day? Yeah, it was me."

Her mouth opened and closed for several seconds, no response coming out. She hadn't been expecting an outright confession.

"Y-You! You've been leading me on all this time?!"

"I'm sorry," he said, closing his eyes. "I needed money, a place to stay . . . food, necessities. I was told to steal money in as unnoticeable a way as possible. How did you ever guess?"

"Well, you breathing fire from your mouth, for one," she growled, folding her arms over her chest. "The only other one who I've met was that big thug, and considering those techniques, I concluded that you have more than just fire techniques." She stared at him apprehensively, waiting for the answer that she knew would come, the confirmation of her hypothesis.

'_Henge no Jutsu._'

He turned into the same thug that had attacked her. She grimaced at the unsavory, disgusting appearance that the thug presented in contrast to the bright blond that she'd known for almost a week.

'_Kai._'

Naruto returned to his blond self. Casting a sad glance at Kazuki's body, he made to pick up the body when Tokiko stopped him yet again. In her hand was a Kakugane, except that it had a different number than the one she'd used against him in the first day. Tokiko glanced at him sideways, silently asking if he was going to interfere with what she was about to do. He had no idea what she _could_ do, but decided that it wouldn't hurt to take a chance, least of all with someone who was already dead. She took his body and left for the school, with Naruto following. Tokiko stopped at the water tank on the rooftop, and laid Kazuki down into a sitting position.

"He tried to save you and me, what an interesting guy," she muttered. "Can you hear me? You're dead, because you jumped in without considering the consequences, without analyzing the situation, without thinking. However, you tried to save me and your friend. You've managed to make me interested . . . somewhat." Tokiko placed the Kakugane sideways onto the wound, and it slowly slid in, integrating itself with Kazuki's body. "Kakugane, the ultimate alloy, created from the essence of alchemy. It will activate according to your instincts, within the deepest depths of the human mind."

'_**The instinct to live, which thrives in all living beings . . .**_'

"By using this as a replacement for your heart, the Kakugane will awaken your survival instincts, allowing you to once more grasp life firmly within your hand. At the same time, you will gain a new power, activating upon the human instinct of combat, this will give you strength to continue fighting."

'_**The instinct to fight, to preserve one's own life, inherent in all beings.**_'

"Live. This Kakugane is the second life which I bestow upon you."

xxxx

"_At such moments, you realize that you and the others are, in fact, one. It's a big realization. Survival is the second law of life. The first is that we are all one." Joseph Campbell_

xxxx

"Explain."

"I'm really sorry, Tokiko-chan!" Naruto said yet again, trying to get her to remove Valkyrie Skirt's blades from under his neck. "But I can't tell you. Not right now."

"You've already said that," she growled, a vein pulsing in her forehead. "And don't call me that."

"I promise, that when the time comes, I will tell you. Right now though, isn't the time. I'm not ready to give out my past, not yet. Please," he begged. "Give me the time to explain myself. All I need is _time_."

'_**It is something we need desperately, ahou. Homunculi will never let witnesses escape alive, that is what I remember upon the entrance into this world. They will chase you and that girl down across the planet.**_'

'_Then,_' the blond resolved, '_We'll have to kill them, so that none shall know that there were witnesses._'

'_**That is my container for you,**_' Kyuubi laughed, which still sounded evil. '_**You have awoken your primal desire for revenge, to do back what harm has been done to you, physically, emotionally, or mentally. Revel in the feeling of satisfaction once you have had your revenge, because you will never want to feel anything else again.**_'

"No."

'_**What?!**_'

"Hm? What is it?" Tokiko asked, though still a little miffed that she had learned nothing of Naruto. "Whatever, it's not my problem if you start talking to yourself out of grief." She removed the blades that were threatening to chop his head off and dismissed her Busou Renkin.

He nodded his stiff head, but was surprised to see a cup held out in front of him.

"Here. It's tea."

Naruto took it gladly and sipped at it while looking around her apartment. It was simple, yet he supposed she was that type of person. A desk with a lamp, a bed, a closet and the tea-table that they were sitting next to . . . Anyone who came in wouldn't suspect that she was doing anything out of the ordinary. Then again, perhaps that was her goal. In the world of shinobi, if you were found out your mission was failed. It must be the same in here, to be discovered was to fail the mission. She _was_ an alchemistic warrior after all.

"Let me ask just one question. Did you really move here from a village?" she asked. "Was it the truth or more lies?"

"It . . . It was the truth," Naruto bit out. "What little I've told you about my past is true. Everything I told you about the me that is here were all lies, though."

"I see."

"Where did you go with Kazuki?"

"I dropped him off in his dormitory room," Tokiko said shortly. "It would be suspicious if he were to be found on the roof of the school, and I had to make it look like he was dreaming. With luck, I'll kill that Homunculus from earlier and this friend of yours won't have to suffer any more than he should. However, should I fail to locate it before it attacks Kazuki again, then he will be dragged into this entire mess."

"I'll watch over him," Naruto volunteered. "I lied to you, and got him into that situation, pretty much. He'll become _my _responsibility."

He realized it now. Whether or not she thought the same of him, Tokiko was a friend. She was a friend that he'd protect, just as he'd protected his friends in Konoha. He would protect her and Kazuki from harm, and even though he knew that she could protect herself, he vowed it. On his nindo, he would never again fail.

"Very well," she said after sipping her tea again. "For now, just enjoy the peace and tea, because both are prone to run out in times like these."

And for the first time since she'd met him, she saw a genuine smile on Uzumaki Naruto's face, not one forced on as an act.

Seeing this, for the first time since she'd met him, Tsumura Tokiko closed her eyes and gave a small smile.

xxxx

"_To accept the truth of who you really are takes nothing short of realization. You have to see the diamond for yourself." Ken Wilber_

xxxx

On a side note, I translated some swearing into Japanese, and left some English. This was to make it sound smoother. "Well, kuso" doesn't sound as good as "Well, shit", does it? Teme and Kusotare both mean 'bastard', but teme is commonly used in anime and as a suffix at the end of a word to indicate their bastardy-ness.

**Vocabulary**

Ahou – Fool, simpleton

Baka – Idiot

Busou Renkin(jutsu) – Arms Alchemy

Gaki – Brat

Hebi – Snake

Teme – Bastard


	2. Discovery

**Code: Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Buso Renkin, but I _do_ own Buso Nin.**

**Ben: No you don't. Buso Nin is just a combination of the two. The licenses are still there.**

**Code: You always ruin my fun. -frown-**

**Ben: You're boring.**

**Code: GAH!**

**Ben: On the side: img72(dot)imageshack(dot)us/img72/2695/minitokyocouplescansbuslp3(dot)jpg – An image of Kazuki's Busou Renkin, as these things are _really_ hard to describe.**

**Busou Nin**

Chapter 2: Discovery

xxxx

"_All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." Galileo Galilei_

xxxx

"Ugh . . ." Naruto groaned. Sitting up, he looked around. "I'm . . . in my apartment? The last thing I remember was falling asleep on Tokiko-chan's table."

'_**She had to carry you here, ahou. Seriously, think about your actions before you do them.**_'

"What . . . what time is it?" he yawned, stretching out the kinks in his body.

'_**Ten o'clock, ahou.**_'

"WHAT?! I'm going to be late for school . . . AGAIN!" Naruto roared, shooting out of bed.

He ran out of the apartment as he pulled on the black top of his gakuran, cursing all the while.

'_Shit! Shit! Damn it! Oh, and by the way, you use the word 'ahou' too much. It's too boring now._'

'_**Ahou! It will never get boring if you always act like one! Now scram!**_'

'_Shut up-oof!_'

"Hey, watch where you're-"

"Okakura! It's fine. This is my new friend, Uzumaki Naruto."

"K-Kazuki?" Naruto mumbled dazedly. "W-What happened?"

"Heh, you ran straight into Okakura, he's one of my friends," he said, grinning. "Need a hand?"

"Yes, please."

Kazuki helped his blond friend up, who immediately dusted himself off. There were two others, one very large guy and a skinny guy with glasses. Okakura's haircut, on the other hand, made Naruto want to run away. The huge stick of hair that stuck out in front reminded him horribly of Lee and Gai's haircuts. It even looked just as slick and shiny as theirs did . . .

"Uh, you guys are going to be late," Naruto warned. "I'll see you later, Kazuki!"

"W-Wait!"

"Huh?" Naruto stopped and turned around to look at Kazuki questioningly. "What?"

"Uh, well," the brunette began, "do you remember going into the haunted factory yesterday, by any chance?"

"He made a huge commotion, talking about how he died trying to protect you and a strange girl!" Okakura cut in.

"Okakura!"

"Kazuki's right," the skinny guy said, "you shouldn't talk about stuff that's Kazuki's own business."

"Come now, Rokumasu, give me a break!" Okakura protested. "He freaking fought me while he sleep-walked!"

"Would've killed you too if it hadn't been for Daihama," Rokumasu muttered, pointing a thumb at the tall and large guy to the side. He reminded Naruto of Chouji, except that the Akimichi was slightly wider and had a higher body-fat composition. Nevertheless, it looked like Daihama was a physical powerhouse.

"You must've been dreaming, Kazuki," Naruto reassured. "If that dream was true, then you'd be dead. Simple as that."

He ran off, attempting to get to homeroom in time.

"Hey, let's go after him," Okakura suggested. "We're going to be late if we don't at least match his speed."

"Oniichan!"

"Hey Machiro!" Kazuki shouted, waving.

xxxx

"_The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes." William James_

xxxx

He could feel Tokiko's presence. While she hadn't mentioned what she planned to do, it had something to do with the school, or someone who attended or taught there. Were there Homunculi hidden within the school itself? The last time he'd checked, there hadn't been any disappearances within the school itself, meaning that for now, there was no danger to the average student. It was now the lunch break. He'd seen Kazuki get in trouble for losing his briefcase, which had been dropped in the abandoned factory. He'd seen him get told to weed the back garden. And now, he was leaning against the small water tower, with Tokiko on top of it. The two of them could see Kazuki complaining to his friends about the injustice of weeding the entire back garden himself. What a peaceful life he lived.

"The search hasn't been successful."

"I figured as much. You only know how the Homunculus looks, right?" Naruto asked. "That might be the problem. If it's hiding in human form, then it'll become a lot harder to locate it."

"True," she conceded, pulling out a cell phone. "You shouldn't stay up here for too long, or you might get found out," she warned as she began tapping at the buttons of the device.

As Kazuki and his friends prepared to leave for class, the brunette's cell phone began ringing, telling Kazuki that it had mail for him. Using the improved vision that all shinobi eventually developed, he could see the Kazuki open it up to read the message 'Treasure your new life'.

"How predictable," Naruto commented.

"Shut up."

The two of them watched Kazuki look confusedly at the cell phone screen for a few seconds before running to catch up with his friends. Naruto supposed it was time for him to go as well, and he sure as hell didn't want to be late for class after one late-coming to the homeroom class and one near-lateness.

"Wait a minute," Tokiko called out, before he could make the leap down onto the raised walkway.

"What is it?" he asked, turning his head around. "As you can see, I've got to get to class."

"I have a question. Why are you becoming involved in this? You don't possess a Kakugane, yet your technique is very much related to Renkinjutsu. If that Homunculus had stayed in those flames, it surely would've died."

"The reason . . . is personal," he replied, avoiding her question. "There's just something I need to accomplish, concerning Renkinjutsu. If it means I have fight through hordes of Homunculus, so be it. I can handle them."

"Meaning," she deduced, "you either have different methods of fighting or different techniques than the ones that you've already displayed."

"Yep. I specialize in Ninjutsu."

Naruto hopped off of the roof and onto the walkway, before sprinting through the door on the opposite side.

"Ninjutsu?" she repeated after he'd disappeared from sight. "Don't tell me that he's . . ."

xxxx

"_Learning is the discovery that something is possible." Fritz Perls_

xxxx

"Ugh, I screwed up," Naruto grunted as he walked across the school.

'_**Right. You told her that you use Ninjutsu. Way to blow your cover.**_'

'_Shut up, baka-kitsune!_'

'_**After all I have done for you-**_'

'_All you want to do is be free of the cage and wreak more havoc!_'

'_**. . . While that may be true, I still hold the key back to your world in my paws. If you choose not to go along with my plan, you can say goodbye to ever seeing your friends again.**_'

'_Bastard . . . blackmailing me like that . . ._'

'_**Call it what you like, you walking piece of flesh, it is just the means to the end.**_'

'_Shut it._'

He closed the mental connection to cut off any smart-ass response from the demon, and instead went to work searching through the school. Even with his minor knowledge of Homunculi, Naruto was finding it nigh impossible to find one that was well-entrenched at school. It would make it harder to distinguish the good or bad teachers and students, so he had to be doubly careful. One problem . . . he wasn't a careful person.

"Gah," he muttered as he bumped his head again trying to quickly escape a teacher's room. What was with these teachers? They stayed so late after school and were prone to randomly enter their god forsaken classrooms. "I'm never going to say that preparing a back-up or escape plan would be a bad idea to Kakashi-sensei anymore, if I ever get back."

"What are you still doing here, Uzumaki?"

Naruto turned around to spot the same darkish gray-haired teacher that had told him to hurry up on the first day.

"Shouldn't you be home by now? It's getting late."

He noticed the briefcase with a snail key chain attached to the handle. Mita, the teacher, was carrying it along, and obviously looking for someone, but who? The briefcase was Kazuki's, which the brunette had dropped in the abandoned factory in his fear and hurry to attempt to save Tokiko. So . . . why did Mita have it? Did he go to the factory to retrieve it? _How did he know it was there in the first place? _Naruto felt his eyes narrow slightly, but put on an embarrassed smile.

"I went to the bathroom, and, eheh, I got lost when I came out."

"That does sound feasible," Mita admitted. "You _did_ transfer here yesterday, and you wouldn't have had much time to explore the school and know your way around like all the other second-years." He straightened his jacket before turning around to walk off. "If you see Mutou Kazuki, tell him that I've found his briefcase for him."

"Y-Yes sir."

Turning around, he pulled out a cellphone which he had brilliantly stolen from a store. A _store_. With cameras and security guards. Sometimes being a shinobi rocked. Anyways, he hunched over it as he located Tokiko's number in the address book. Naruto began tapping into it, writing up his message. If his suspicions were correct, then it'd be a matter of time before Mita found Kazuki, and attempted to eliminate the teen.

'_Might have located the Homunculus . . . Ginsei High, hurry._'

Satisfied, he sent the message and tucked the cellphone into the pocket on the inside of his gakuran top. Naruto sprinted after Mita's trail, but it was made harder when he realized that he couldn't smell the teacher. Without that, he couldn't accurately follow the teacher as he could with all others. Switching tactics, he placed his briefcase on the floor and strained his ears to their maximum sensitivity, listening carefully. Amongst the silence of the empty school, he heard the clapping of shoes on the floor. There! He was heading outside! Picking his briefcase back up again, he ran to the nearest open window and hopped off. Third floor or not, he was a shinobi, and he landed safely and quietly on the floor.

xxxx

"_The greatest discoveries have come from people who have looked at a standard situation and seen it differently." Ira Erwin_

xxxx

"Agh," Kazuki moaned as he lay on the floor, his upper body only being held up by his hurting arms. "It's finally done." He was at the side of the school, only buildings and walls surrounding him and creating a sort of alley. Pulling on his gakuran top and heaving his backpack onto his shoulder, he looked around for a bit at the school. He'd never been here this long, so the change in lighting kind of spooked him out.

His wandering eyes eventually settled on the horizon, a building in the hillside.

"The haunted factory in the hills . . ."

The 'nightmare' appeared in his thoughts, and the picture of himself being skewered through the heart sent shivers down his spine.

"For some reason, I've had no luck since yesterday . . . well, except for meeting Naruto."

Kazuki was about to go and report to the staff lounge that his work was done, so that he could go home and eat dinner, when a voice sounded out.

"Where are you going? Have you finished what I asked you to do?"

He turned to see Mita strolling slowly towards him, something in the teacher's right hand. Mita stopped about ten feet away, gazing at him in the last vestiges of light, which kind of creeped the brunette out. He decided that he wanted to be home as soon as possible.

"Well, for the moment."

"For the moment, huh?" Mita repeated, looking at the tied bags of weeds that were placed next to the wall. "In any case, it doesn't matter." He lifted up the object and tossed on the floor, which eventually slid over to Kazuki's feet.

The familiar snail key chain caught his red eyes.

"My briefcase!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Where was it found?" He was half hoping that it was somewhere in the P.E. Room or in the bathroom.

"The abandoned factory in the hills," Mita informed as he began walking forward towards the high schooler.

"Huh?" Kazuki let out. "The abandoned . . . factory?"

"Yes, it was left behind . . . by the guy who interrupted my meal yesterday." By this time, Mita was not more than three or four feet away, and Kazuki could hear a sort of crackling noise. Mita's skin seemed as if it were cracking, a multitude of blue lines appearing on his body. In fact, it was even appearing on his clothes! This was . . . unreal . . . this couldn't be happening. His body fell flat on his butt, his surprise showing clearly on his face.

"That means you, **Mutou Kazuki,**" he clarified, his voice becoming deeper.

'_What's happening?_'

"**Kazuki, why are you still alive? You should've died when I made that hole through your heart.**" Strange spines were coming out of Mita's back now, and Kazuki felt his own eyes widen, his heart beat rise sky high, his breathing quicken.

'_I-I see . . . I-It's a dream! It has to be a dream, because if it isn't, I wouldn't . . . no, couldn't be alive right now!_' he thought, even as he unconsciously began trying to crawl backwards.

"**Well, it doesn't matter. Since you're still alive, I'll make sure that this time, I kill you!**" he roared, his body deforming rapidly and arching up towards the sky, taking on the form of a large cobra.

"Ha-aa-aaaaaaaah!" Kazuki screamed in panic as he got to his feet quickly and ran the opposite direction. He inhaled and exhaled rapidly and loudly as he ran as fast as he could, trying to outrun the monstrosity that was chasing him. Just as he got to the corner of the school, Mita lunged, narrowly missing. Kazuki continued running, and Mita, not put off by the miss, continued on at an even faster pace.

"I-It's not a dream! It wasn't a dream!" Kazuki repeated to himself. "Then I . . ."

At that moment, his cell phone rung. He pulled out and quickly flipped it open.

"Who is this?!" he half-yelled into the phone.

"We'll be there in three minutes tops, just hold out until then!" a female voice said.

"What is that thing?" Kazuki demanded. "Who are you? What the hell is going on here?!"

Mita used his distraction to lunge again, but Kazuki narrowly dodged it by sidestepping and changing direction at the last second. The resulting crash sent the phone flying out of his hands, and he was forced to juggle the phone around comically as he ran, trying to catch it and keep it from falling and breaking.

"It's difficult to talk and run at the same time," the voice said again, sternly. "I'll get to the point."

"Please, go right ahead!" he begged.

"The thing that's chasing you, is called a Homunculus. It's a monster that hides within a human and eats humans as their primary food source."

"Eats humans?" Kazuki repeated disbelievingly.

"I was following them to this city, but then you got yourself involved."

"Them? Got involved?! How did I?!"

"I see," the voice said after a pause, "you still haven't remembered everything."

"Remembered what?" he demanded again. He wanted explanations, yet the only thing he'd really learned was that the thing chasing him ate humans, and he certainly didn't want to become food for it.

"Anyways, don't stop running! To conceal their existence to others, Homunculi will never let a witness live. They will come after you, even if they have to follow you to the end of the world."

"Tch!"

"Once you've become involved, there's nowhere for you to run!" the voice warned.

Kazuki sprinted towards the next corner, but stopped abruptly after turning the corner, just narrowly missing from colliding into his sister. His sister?! What was she doing here?! She let out a yell, which dissipated quickly.

"You scared me! What's wrong? What happened? You look scary."

"Mahiro," he panted out, "what are you doing here? Why are you here?"

"Well, you were late coming home," she said with a smile, "so I came to get you."

'_Damn!_' he cursed in realization, '_She'll get involved!_' He could feel the slight trembling of the ground, caused by Mita's rapid movement. If he didn't do something immediately, she might become caught in the entire mess, and possibly even killed. No . . . it couldn't come to that. He wouldn't allow it. She was his sister, and he would protect her with his life.

"Run, Mahiro!" he yelled, placing a hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her of something she had no knowledge of. "I'll hold him off!"

"W-What? What are you talking about?" she asked confusedly, raising her hands in front of herself protectively. "What's wrong, Oniichan?"

He ran to a pile of junk and picked up a good sized pipe. Perhaps this would be enough. Kazuki ran past her and her yell of "Oniichan!", yelling for her to run as he prepared to charge Mita . . . only to find that he wasn't in sight. The ground trembled and the sound of ground breaking met his ears. He gasped and felt time stop as a snapping noise sounded behind him.

Mita completely swallowed her up, and the large snake mouth opened to reveal Mita's human head on an elongated neck.

"**It sure is difficult moving around on an empty stomach,**" he said, satisfied. "**That makes up for having to starve yesterday!**"

Kazuki gripped the pipe tightly and screamed in rage as he whirled around. He began hitting Mita's head left and right repeatedly with the pole, screaming, "Give her back! This has nothing to do with her!"

"Give her back! Give her back! Give her back!"

"**Don't get cocky,**" Mita said smugly, while Kazuki's pipe was bending, having been stopped by the unmoving head. His tail flashed out, knocking Kazuki several feet away and sending the pipe flying onto the floor. The high schooler lay face down, and he appeared to have either entered unconsciousness or given up. Oh well, it was all for the better, it'd be much easier to eat him right now instead of chasing him further. "**This body, made from Renkinjutsu, doesn't react to any power other than Renkinjutsu itself!**" he proclaimed.

By this time, Kazuki had been able to sit up, though it was taking a toll on his stamina.

"Renkin . . . jutsu?"

Suddenly, his heart pulsed with a strange sensation, and he grabbed his chest with his hand. It continued to pulse like that, and the world around him seemed to blur. He could remember everything. Everything from being skewered, to Tokiko's words to him. Unfortunately for him, any memory of Naruto being with Tokiko seemed to be a blur. Nevertheless, he stood up on shaky legs."

"**Oh? You're not giving up?**" Mita questioned. "**You should've been dead last night, just accept your fate!**"

"Give back Mahiro!" Kazuki growled.

"**Stop sleep talking!**" Mita replied mockingly, reminding Kazuki of the excuse that had been created, that he had just been dreaming. "**Resign yourself to being consumed by your sister,**" he finished with a creepy smile.

"Tch, you BASTARD!"

Kazuki rushed forward, once again taking up the pipe. Mita, on the other hand, wasted no time in withdrawing his head and sending the large snake head charging to meet his adversary head on. Instead of being knocked away, the brunette had managed to jump and thrust the pole into one of the snake's glassy eyes, but just when he'd thought he'd done it, Kazuki was thrown onto the floor.

"**You still don't understand do you, idiot?**" Mita questioned angrily. The spines next to his head elongated, and he was just about to impale Kazuki, when . . .

'_Fuuton: Daitoppa!_'

Powerful winds crashed into Mita from behind, sending the large snake reeling. Several large gashes appeared on the back, and was painful enough to cause the Homunculus to whirl around angrily to find . . . no one. There was no one behind him. Then who-

'_Kaze no Yaiba!_'

Multiple blades of wind fell from the sky and slammed itself into Mita, piercing his body. He became blinded in pain, and screamed. Mita's vision turned red and turned to eat Kazuki. He would at least eat the boy and flee, and he made to do so, until someone landed in front of him.

"**Huh? You are . . . ?!**"

"Busou Renkin! Valkyrie Skirt!" Tokiko announced, holding out the Kakugane to the side.

Like before, the hexagon separated and dissolved, re-materializing into the four scythe-like blades.

"**What?!**" Mita exclaimed. "**You're last night's . . . Che!**"

Mita shot forward, but several dozen shuriken hit him in his large, cobra-like back, making him falter.

'_Now!_'

Tokiko's blades shot forward, all four piercing evenly in a square shape, breaking apart the entire body because of the amount of force used. Mita's head was left in the air, and he began moaning in pain while the rest of his body was sliced and diced into pieces.

"**Death Scythe Busou Renkin . . . I see,**"

A horizontal slash to his neck.

"**you're . .** "

This was followed up by two blades entering either of his eyes diagonally.

"**the Renkin no . . . Sen-**"

She ended both the battle and his speaking with a final thrust into the marking on his forehead, causing him to fade away into dust. Mita's stomach region faded away, and revealed an unhurt Mahiro, who seemed to have fallen unconscious. From shock or the claustrophobia, Naruto wouldn't know. So as not to reveal himself, he turned around abruptly and left the side of the rooftop.

"Mahiro!" he could hear Kazuki exclaim.

xxxx

"_When it's time for us to die, let us not discover that we have never lived." Henry David Thoreau_

xxxx

His blue eyes snapped open as he heard her jump out of the window. It was time for phase two of her plan, eliminate all Homunculi in the factory. Naruto jumped off of the roof and into the treetops, keeping speed with Tokiko. She noticed him and gave him an apprehensive look, the final warning. If he went any further, he'd be in this all the way. Naruto didn't mind, this was something he needed to do.

"You didn't have to be so harsh with him," he began as they began running up the hillside, mentioning her short talk with Kazuki about not following her. "All he wanted to do was to help, even a little bit."

"I don't need help, and I especially don't want someone innocent like him to become dragged into all this."

"If you don't need help, then why are you putting up with me?"

"Because you wouldn't listen to me even if I told you to screw off," Tokiko said with a pointed glare. "You're annoying that way."

'_**How touching, however, you are nearing the factory. Stay alert.**_'

'_I might be clueless about a lot of stuff, but I'm definitely no pushover when it comes to combat, Kyuubi. Butt out._'

"Be prepared for anything," Naruto warned in advance. "They might have something up their sleeves."

"Why else would I have willingly brought _you_?" Tokiko retorted. "You seem to be the type who can prepare for everything."

"Anything, not everything," he corrected.

"That's the same thing," she protested under her breath, not willing to let her partner know how frustrated she was with him at this point.

"The conversation is besides the point. Let's do this."

"Right, don't get in my way."

"Tokiko-chan, if I ever got in your way, it'd be because I had a death wish."

"That's good to hear."

Naruto slammed open the doors, his and Tokiko's bodies being silhouetted by the moonlight. Though he could be stealthy at times, now was not one of them. They were here to wage war against monsters, outnumbered and in a bad position. Luckily enough, it was in situations such as these that his brilliance in combat strategy was displayed. Today's matchings . . . him and her against a large room filled with Homunculi. Just perfect. The only other partner was Tokiko, so he could go and bust out the entire variety of Ninjutsu that he knew and employed so effectively along with Kage Bunshin.

At least, that's what he'd been thinking until they saw hordes of ape-like Homunculi. Hordes and hordes. There had to be at the very least one-hundred and at the most several times more. The factory floor was large, and the Homunculi smaller in size, the end result being an overly crowded factory floor filled with monsters that looked just about ready to pounce at them at any moment.

"Bullshit!" he swore.

"I believe you may have just jinxed us, blond one," Tokiko growled through gritted teeth. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she released her Busou Renkin. "It doesn't matter, slaughter them all . . . Unless you're not _up to it._"

The challenge was issued, and all that was left was for him to accept it.

"Bring it."

Fifty Homunculi jumped into the air while double that amount rushed them by foot.

'_Katon: Karyuu Endan!_'

Like before, the flamethrower-like dragon washed over the Homunculi, melting the ground with it. Its white hot flames burned anything that came within three feet of it, and melted anything within one. The concentrated stream of fire felled fifteen heavily-crowded Homunculi, but more took their place. If anything, this reminded him of his battle with the Ame shinobi during the Chuunin Exams. He'd whack and whack at the clones but more would always appear and it'd be an everlasting cycle until he was worn out.

"Die, you foul beings!" Tokiko roared, her blades moving rapidly and cutting the Homunculi into pieces. Though she wasn't killing as many as Naruto was, she was using less stamina in comparison. Even still, she fought with a ferocity that he'd never witnessed before. Her eyes had a deadly sheen to them, and all feeling had been withdrawn leaving the eyes to look as though they belonged to a heartless killer. After finishing the dozen that had come after her, her blades fell into a ready stance as two dozen more leaped at her.

"**Prey!**"

"You're the prey!" she growled, cutting down eight more who had taken to the sky.

Naruto reached into his top and pulled out six shuriken, placing three in each hand. Turning his body slightly to the right, he whirled to the left. His left arm shot out, then his right, until his body was now turned to the left. The six shuriken flew at the several dozen Homunculi, and would not be able to stop the entire horde unless he did something to even the odds.

'_Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_'

Six multiplied into eighteen, then fifty-four, the end result being hundreds of shuriken that pierced through the monsters. While normal shuriken wouldn't have killed a Homunculus, the Ninjutsu version, similar to Renkinjutsu as it was, could.

'_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu._'

Ten Kage Bunshin appeared next to Naruto, who then ordered them to form a defensive circle. While they fought and held off the Homunculi, he bit his thumb and went through the hand seals of the jutsu he was certain could wipe them all out. Naruto slammed his right palm onto the floor, and a series of markings coiled out from the impact, which then summoned up a loud explosion and large quantities of smoke. When the smoke dissipated, a large gama was revealed.

'_Kuchiyose no Jutsu._'

The gama was nowhere near the size of Gamabunta, however, standing at ten feet in height, it was still a large size – medium for the average summoned gama.

"Oil!" Naruto demanded as he prepared a Katon jutsu.

The armored gama complied, breathing in deeply and exhaling large amounts of flammable oil.

'_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!_'

Instead of shooting it as a fireball, he used the first variation of the jutsu, which caused fire to come out at a steady rate. What would normally create a static fireball was sucked up by the oil, igniting it and sending burning destruction in the form of napalm towards the Homunculi. Those that were caught were left dead or dying, as they tried desperately to put out the fire by rolling on the ground. The gama turned slowly counter-clockwise while Naruto continued spewing out fire to combine with the oil. In two minutes, there was a large circle of destruction in which at least eighty or so Homunculi lay dead.

"That should teach-oof!"

Naruto was knocked off of his summon, who turned around swiftly and hacked off the Homunculus that had jumped him.

"There are too many!" Tokiko called out to him as she cut down another dozen with her Busou Renkin.

"I can see that!" Naruto retorted, resorting to Taijutsu to fend off the enemy. All of his Kage Bunshin had been destroyed, so he had to think up a new plan to destroy the constantly renewing ranks of Homunculi. Ninjutsu worked well enough, but not even he had a jutsu that was the right strength to take them all out. The only one that he knew could surely take them all out was the _Fuuton: Rasenshuriken_, but that would also take the factory down with it.

Then, he was reminded. He still had the _Oodama Rasengan_. It was several times more destructive than a fully formed Rasengan, but was also several times less destructive than its counterpart, the _Rasenshuriken_. As long as the factory's supports held out for the duration of the jutsu, the two of them might be able to end this battle and get out alive.

"Right!" he resolved, dispelling his worn out summon. '_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_'

Once again, a multitude of Bunshin appeared in a circle, but this time, he gave them orders to utilize _any_ means to kill or stop the Homunculi. He'd need more than just stalling to complete a stable _Oodama Rasengan_, even if he had to order his Bunshin to use Ninjutsu. While they began shooting off his small arsenal of Katon and Fuuton jutsu, he worked on the jutsu.

He held out both of his hands to create and compact the jutsu while the Kage Bunshin that was his partner held out his hands to insert some of Kyuubi's potent chakra, multiplying the strength tenfold.

"I don't know whatever the hell you're doing, Naruto, but it'd better be useful!" Tokiko yelled angrily, retreating to a position next to him. "There's way too many of them to call this a simple base!"

"Well, what constitutes as a base?" a Kage Bunshin asked, sending a flurry of fireballs towards incoming airborne targets.

"A base would normally rank so with about five Homunculi, while ten to fifteen would be overly large. However . . ."

"What would _this_ place rank up as?" another Kage Bunshin questioned, throwing several element-enhanced kunai into the face of a Homunculus that had come too close. "A fortress?"

"Not even close. This would be called an army!" she replied, cutting two in half as they tried to attack the real Naruto from behind. "I don't know how the hell they amassed such a huge force without the rentai's knowledge!"

"So, this is the pair that Mita spoke of last night," a large person on the other side of the factory room said, grinning. "They're amazing."

"Done!" Naruto announced. "Get behind me!"

"Huh? Behind you?" she repeated, turning to look at him.

"Just do it!" he roared as he jumped into the air with his Kage Bunshin.

Four Kage Bunshin placed themselves into a rectangular formation, each of them going through hand seals swiftly. Finishing, they clapped their hands together and held them out against the air.

"_Shishienjin!_"

A large rectangular barrier rose, closing itself off and leaving the real Naruto exposed.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Tokiko exclaimed.

"Just shut up and watch! _Oodama Rasengan_!"

Just as every Homunculi jumped into the air to meet him, Naruto slammed the pulsing orb into the top of the barrier, having ordered the four Kage Bunshin channeling the jutsu to concentrate its strength there. The resulting explosion ripped apart every visible Homunculi within fifty feet and blinded everyone in the room, even himself. A loud crushing noise was heard as the ground beneath cracked and broke under the pressure of the jutsu clashing with the barrier. By the time the debris had settled, one could see that the top of the barrier had been cracked extensively, and some parts had even begun falling apart. Tokiko stared at him with her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide. As Naruto fell down, his Kage Bunshin first dismissed the barrier and then themselves, so that he wouldn't kill himself on contact.

"What did you do?" she asked slowly.

"A real pain in the ass jutsu," Naruto groaned in reply, falling to his knees. "No matter how many times I try that, it's hard to gather so much chakra while condensing and rotating it at the same time. It really takes a toll on my mental stamina."

"I see," the figure said from his position in the wall. The blast had knocked and pressed him into it. Such force, even for the backlash. "You, girl, you're the Renkin no Senshi. The boy, however, is a strange one. No Busou Renkin, only the use of strange and powerful techniques that would be more common amongst the more advanced Homunculi."

"Don't compare him with you monstrosities!" Tokiko snarled.

"Do you really think that just the two of you can win just by barging in like that?" he questioned as the crackling noise of a transforming Homunculus met their ears.

"We don't need any help," she retorted. "Come!"

"**As you wish!**" he roared in his fully transformed state. He was a huge ape, a little bit larger in size than the ten foot gama that Naruto had summoned earlier. "**It's just what I wanted to do!**" He raised his fist and prepared to smash the two into smithereens.

Tokiko's eyes widened marginally at his frontal attack, and even more so when she felt something grab onto her leg.

"**I got her, Saruwatari-san!**" one of the Homunculi exclaimed. His body had been almost completely destroyed, save for the torso and the arm.

"Damn it, hiding in the bodies!" she said aloud in realization. "Damn it Naruto, can't you do anything right?

Naruto was in the same predicament, though he was in the process of making a few more Kage Bunshin to deal with the threat.

Saruwatari continued on, fist moving faster and faster.

"**It's painful to have no support, isn't it, Renkin no Senshi?**"

Tokiko cut down the Homunculus that was holding her down with a yell, but was grabbed immediately by several more arms.

"You . . . !"

Faint footsteps were heard by Naruto, who turned his attention to the door. Only one other person could possibly know about what was happening in the factory, and only one person would be stupid enough to charge in without any knowledge of weaponry to defeat a Homunculus.

'_Shit, he can't possibly be . . . ?!_'

Quickly, he killed the last few Homunculi that had latched onto him with his kunai and leaped into the air, launching a salvo of enhanced shuriken towards the location of the hidden Homunculi that were holding Tokiko in place. The weaponry cut through the several layers of dead bodies, killing the living ones as well. Just as Saruwatari had reached her, the door broke open and Naruto hit and stuck to the ceiling.

Kazuki roared as he rushed in, eyes filled with burning determination. Both Tokiko and Saruwatari looked at him with shocked expressions as he clutched his chest, where his heart should be.

"Busou Renkin!"

The material of the Kakugane dissolved and exited his body, reforming into a large, pointed lance with a long red sash connected to the side of the lance's pointed edge. The handles were like a lance's, but the blade of the lance itself, was humongous. At its widest point, it was almost as wide as his own body.

Continuing his roar, he charged at Saruwatari, thrusting his Busou Renkin.

"**W-What's this?!**" the Homunculus exclaimed, reacting quickly to the assault and bringing both of his palms together to stop the lance from piercing his marking. Kazuki kept placing large amounts of force on the lance, regardless, and began a contest of strength with Saruwatari. "**So I'm not the only one who'd prepared an ambush! You want to match strength with me? How amusing!**"

Both he and Kazuki began yelling, letting out their force of will, as the lance began trembling with the amount of brute force that was being applied to both sides.

"Pierce, my Busou Renkin!"

The red sash began glowing a brilliant golden color in response to this, and Tokiko felt her own eyes widen yet again.

'_His sash . . . is turning into energy?!_'

The grin on Saruwatari's face disappeared quickly when he felt the beginnings of the lance push into the marking. It disappeared completely when the force of the energy behind the lance pushed forward, splitting the Homunculus' upper body entirely in half, with Kazuki flying past, also because of the force.

"So strong! Why is it so strong?" Tokiko exclaimed. '_To be able to defeat a strength-oriented Homunculus in its own main attribute, just who is this guy?_'

Suddenly, Kazuki began flailing in the air as he realized that there was nothing stopping him from his midair traveling except for the wall that he was rapidly approaching. His efforts went unnoticed as he slammed face first into the wall, sliding down pathetically. Kazuki fell flat on his back once he reached the bottom of his slide, sending up a cloud of dust, causing Naruto to smirk to himself. So much like himself . . .

Tokiko looked up momentarily at Naruto with a questioning expression, but was met with a single gesture: a finger to his lips. He didn't want Kazuki to know of his involvement? She supposed it was rational, as they had just become friends. The friendship might strain or be strengthened by the discovery of Naruto's presence, but it seemed that the blond didn't want to take the chance . . . not just yet. Looking down, the Homunculi remains were now dissolving. The death of the leader who had created them from humans had been the severance of their last connection to this world. Now they could truly pass on to the afterlife.

Naruto himself was impressed. Already, Kazuki could summon up the Busou Renkin and go head to head with a Homunculus . . . or maybe it was just a fluke, because of the surprise attack. Nevertheless, he decided to leave quietly, so as not to gain attention to himself should Kazuki look upwards.

"What about your younger sister?!" he could hear Tokiko scold.

xxxx

"_When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves." William Arthur Ward_

xxxx

'_What did she mean?_'

**xxxx**

"What about your younger sister?!" she scolded, walking up to his fallen body.

"Don't worry, I sent her home," Kazuki reassured, using the end of the lance's handle as a support to stand up. "I sprinted for thirty minutes to get here, but I'm still fine . . ." He then tipped over, falling onto the floor.

"You're dead on your feet,"Tokiko stated, almost deadpanning if not for her personality. "Why did you come? Didn't I tell you not to? Didn't I?"

"I couldn't just pick one option!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Mahiro is important to me, but . . . I couldn't let you come here alone."

Tokiko looked surprised for a moment, if only to react to his fervent desire to protect everyone he knew, even herself. He surely was a copy of Naruto or something, because the two seemed to act almost identically. The differences were minor, and the two could very well have been passed off as brothers if they had the same hair color.

"I wasn't alone," she sighed. "Someone came with me, but he's already left."

"W-What?!" Kazuki exclaimed, his eyes turning into small dots.

"Anyways, look beneath your feet."

He did so and let out an involuntary moan and a step backwards when he saw the skulls and skeletons scattered across the floor.

"T-This is . . . !"

"I've already told you," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "This is their way. Humans are their food source. Also, it seems to me that this isn't their only base. We annihilated the ones here, but there are probably more hiding within the town itself. I've checked all the hunting grounds, but it never occurred to me before that they'd be so well entrenched."

"Why would such monsters . . ."

"The situation is worse than I thought," Tokiko said aloud, voicing her thoughts. "Here alone were hundreds of Homunculi . . . Next time, seriously, don't get involved. There is a high probability that you will d-"

"No, this is even more of a reason for me to not stay away," Kazuki said stubbornly. "If they're hiding within the town, then everyone will be in danger. The Kakugane that you gave me, I have that power. I can fight." He turned and looked up at the lance he was holding, as if to prove his point.

'_It's different from yesterday,_' Tokiko thought. '_This time, you're jumping in even though he knows everything._'

**xxxx**

'_If she wasn't alone, then who was with her?_' Kazuki pondered as Tokiko helped him down the hill, his arm slung around her shoulders.

A short distance away, Naruto was hopping through the trees slowly, following them. Kazuki was his responsibility, whether it was in or out of battle. Even so, he'd be damned if the brunette ever found about his own involvement. He was doing this for his own benefit first and foremost, the benefit of others behind that. Naruto knew that that was harsh, but that was the extent to which he wanted to go home, back to friends, back to his way of living, the life of a shinobi.

"I was telling you for your own good," Tokiko explained. "Even if you hadn't interfered, my ally could've helped me out."

"Thanks, but sorry," Kazuki replied, though a little put out by her words.

"That's not to say that I'm not thankful for your interference," she said to quickly mend the situation, "It's just that I'm saying that your assistance wouldn't have made a difference had you or had you not intervened."

"Anyways, it looks like I won't be able to just stand aside for you and your ally to handle everything. I'm going to help you guys get rid of these monsters."

"He was a temporary ally," she protested, when a pebble hit her in the back of the head. Her head turned around slowly, her eyes glowing red under her bangs as she crushed the pebble in her palms. '_Uzumaki, when I'm done with you . . ._' "Even if I say no, you won't listen, will you?" she asked, her eyes closed and her walking stopped.

"Right!" Kazuki exclaimed, his head shooting up.

"All right, I understand," Tokiko said as her eyes once again glowed red under her bangs. She let go of him and released her Busou Renkin, training them on his body. "You'll become a trainee warrior, but you must never die before my very eyes ever again. From now on, you must and will follow my orders, understand?!"

"Understood!" shouted Kazuki, saluting with his left hand. "But . . ."

"What now?" she said exasperatedly.

"Well, what is . . . your name?" he asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

Taken back by the question, she turned and began scratching at the bridge of her nose in embarrassment.

"Oh, right. Sorry. I forgot to tell you."

Kazuki laughed lightly, scratching the back of his head. At that moment, Naruto felt his breathe catch in his throat. That tone of laugh . . . the head scratching . . . the cheerful disposition . . . it was as if he was looking into a mirror, but seeing someone else with the same personality! And yet, Kazuki was also even more clueless than he was at this age. Naruto acted like that at the age of twelve-and-a-half, and that personality became more and more sparse as he grew older and became apparent of the truths of shinobi. His smiling had stopped almost completely with the battle against Akatsuki.

"Listen carefully, My name is Tokiko. Tsumura Tokiko."

"Tokiko-san . . ."

xxxx

"_The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." Mark van Doren_

xxxx

"What the _hell_ was that for?!"

"I'm -choke- s-so s-s-s-sorry, -choke- Tokiko-chan!"

Tokiko had pushed him up against the wall when they'd reached their floor of the apartment complex, cutting off his air flow and attempting to choke him. Though her eyes weren't glowing, they held the same danger as the ones she'd shown in the factory, but the disposition was different. She was ignoring his apologies currently, and was watching Naruto's skin turn blue because of the lack of oxygen.

"Don't do it again!" she warned as she let go of the vice-grip that she'd had on his neck.

Naruto began taking deep breaths, his face returning to its normal coloring. His chest heaved up and down as he clutched at his heart, trying to gain back the breath he'd lost from behind choked for several minutes.

"I-I promise."

She opened the door to her apartment and stood in front of it, feeling his gaze upon her. Ignoring this, Tokiko went inside and shut the door, but he continued to stare at it. After about a minute of staring . . .

Tokiko slammed open the door and looked out with an annoyed expression.

"Alright, I get it! Come in already, before I lock the door on you."

Glee was written all over his face as he almost pranced into her apartment room. Though he had his own, hers had the feminine touch that he found more comforting and soothing than his own. Plus, he still hadn't even unpacked anything except for his futon. Naruto supposed he was just lazy, as was stereotypical of men. It was kind of unique for a shinobi, but he wasn't in Konoha, so he could be as lazy as he wanted to be. Glee!

"Anyways, I just wanted to tell you before I go through with it, but I'm moving into a hotel," she informed the blond as the two sipped at their tea. She always seemed to have some every time he visited, though he'd only done so once before.

"W-W-W-What?!" Naruto exclaimed, accidentally spewing out some of the tea he'd been drinking onto the tea table with such force that it cracked under the pressure. "Uh, eheh, sorry," he apologized, seeing the damage.

"It's alright," Tokiko replied, accepting the apology, "It's been too long since I've had that thing anyway."

Naruto paused, staring at her for a few seconds before going up to her and pressing a hand onto her forehead.

"W-What are you doing?" she asked, flushing slightly.

"The Tokiko-chan that I know would never let something like that pa-UGH!"

Naruto lay on the floor, a large bump forming on his head and an irritated Tokiko standing over him. His body twitched every now and then, and anime tears streamed from his KO'd eyes. He supposed he'd been a bit too abrupt with the act of checking for a fever, but she didn't have to be so violent about it . . . boohoo.

"So, why are you moving?" he asked once he'd recovered, an ice pack on his still throbbing head.

"It would place me closer to the school, in case an emergency breaks out," she explained. '_And I'll finally be rid of you as a neighbor!_' Though harsh, it was the truth. She'd been planning on moving into a hotel at some point, but his presence had only motivated that thought. "Also, it's slightly larger than this room."

"Really?" Naruto asked, looking around. "I've lived in smaller for years."

"Anyways, I'll be packed up and moved out before school tomorrow. If you please, I need to get to work."

"Oh, right."

He left the room, pausing only to look at her gather her belongings together, before closing the door and entering his own room.

'_I've been living next to her for a while . . . How will I feel once she's gone?_'

'_**Ahou, we still need to weasel out information from her!**_' Kyuubi said all of a sudden, shocking the blond.

'_K-Kyuubi! Where have you been?_'

'_**Watching you fight. You did well for a brainless bag of flesh,**_' the kitsune said. Insult within the sentence or not, it was a compliment that Naruto appreciated greatly. He didn't get those too often, and it was always refreshing to hear someone speak good things of you. '_**Anyways, this is what we must do . . .**_'

xxxx

"_Mistakes are the portals of discovery." James Joyce_

xxxx

"Finally, I'm done," she sighed. All her unneeded belongings were in the closet. The hotel room had a comfy bed with a nightstand and lamp next to it. Further across was a small table with an armchair. Across the room was a desk, chair, and television. On the other side of the bed and on the wall were clothes pegs for hanging clothes. On the wall opposite the closet was a large window that went entirely from one side to the other, with curtains on either side. For a bit of color, the walls were painted a light shade of yellow, accompanied with a framed and hanged picture here and there. "Well, at least it's quiet."

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, and she instinctively went for the knob even though all of her senses warned her against it.

"Hi! I'm your new neighbor!"

"!"

Tokiko was deadpanning with her mouth hanging open, pointing at the cheery blond in front of her.

"You . . . what . . . neighbor . . . what?" she said, unable to form a complete sentence.

"Yes!" he yelled dramatically. "I, too, have packed up all of my belongings and moved here! What a coincidence!"

"Naruto . . ."

"Hm? Yes?"

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?!"

"Wuh-huh?! GAH! SOMEBODY HELP ME, SHE'S LOST IT!!! -gurgle- Somebody -choke- help meeeeeee . . ."

xxxx

"_There is no such thing as pursuit of happiness, but there is the discovery of joy." Joyce Grenfell_

xxxx

**Vocabulary**

Gama - Toad

Renkin no Senshi – Warrior of Alchemy, Alchemic Warrior

Rentai - Regiment

**Jutsu List**

_General_

**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)** – B-Rank – Unlike the normal Bunshin no Jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu creates real flesh-and-blood copies of the user. They can fight, experience emotions, and perform jutsu just like the user. When using jutsu though, they have to use the store of chakra that was placed in them during creation. The amount of chakra in Kage Bunshin can be altered. Any information and mental experience that the Kage Bunshin experiences is also passed on to the user when they are killed or dispelled, which makes it particularly useful for missions involving reconnaissance and stealth.

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) –**C-Rank – The user, after making a blood pact with an animal group, draws blood on their signing hand and performs hand seals. They then slam their hand into something solid, preferably the ground, to summon a creature from another plane of existence. The size and strength of the creature are comparable to the amount of chakra used in the summoning, and the amount of control exercised. Each animal group has a 'king' the strongest of that animal.

**Oodama Rasengan (Great Ball Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)) –**S-Rank – This modification of the original Rasengan is awarded the S-Rank because of the difficulty of combining large amounts of chakra, condensing it, _and_ rotating it all at once while trying to place the very unstable Kyuubi chakra into it, making it several times more difficult to perform than the normal Rasengan. The upside to the extra work is the fact that it is many times more damaging, likely to kill anything it comes into physical contact with.

**Shishienjin (Four-Man Violet Flame Wall) –**A-Rank – This barrier jutsu requires four people to move into a rectangular or square shape, focusing their chakra into a large purple wall of fire. As long as it stands, it cannot be penetrated by the outside, and anyone who tries to do so will be lit on fire and killed. As long as the four members continue to concentrate on the barrier, or as long as a jutsu of such strength comparable to the Rasenshuriken hits the barrier, it will continue to stand unless one of its members is attacked. To counter that, an additional extension of the shield creates a pyramid around the member.

**Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique) –**B-Rank – The same rank as the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, this is just a variation similar to the Oodama Rasengan, in that instead of cloning the user, it clones the shuriken that is thrown by the user. Though it doesn't have the original and its capability of using stealth or gleaning information, this jutsu is very useful in attacking a large area at one time, to either take out a large group of enemies or to trap a few enemies.

_Fire_

**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique) – **C-Rank – Similar to the Doryuuheki, the user releases pent-up chakra from their gut and manipulates the chakra into flames as the chakra enters the throat, thus breathing out fire. Depending on the force that the flames are expelled, the fireball will either stay put or begin moving on a path of destruction. The size of the fireball is relative to the amount of chakra used in the jutsu, and is one of Konohagakure's most basic Katon jutsu.

_Wind_

**Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough) –**C-Rank – A simple Fuuton jutsu, it sends out a powerful explosion of moving air that can level anything in its path with the right amount of chakra. By any means a simple jutsu and easy to withstand with a simple defensive jutsu, this jutsu is best used in an ambush situation to catch the enemy off guard and keep them that way, as shown by Orochimaru's use of it during the Chuunin Exams to separate and distract the members of Team 7.

**Fuuton: Rasenshuriken (Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken) –**S-Rank – The half finished product of Naruto's training towards the Fuuton: Rasengan, the Rasenshuriken is on a whole new level compared to the Oodama Rasengan. Whereas the Oodama is a stronger version of the 'sledgehammer' Rasengan, the Rasenshuriken is purely offensive. When it contacts with the enemy, it attacks so quickly and numerously on the microscopic scale that it can effectively render the enemy's body useless, should they live, severing chakra and neural paths. Although it is shaped like a shuriken, it must be used at melee range, just like the Rasengan.

**Kaze no Yaiba (Blade of Wind) –**B-Rank – Comparably more complicated than the Daitoppa in that the user concentrates chakra into the form of wind into their hand, and then manipulating its shape into that of a sword. As a Fuuton jutsu, it is very dangerous because of its natural sharpness and origin. The user can spawn off more of the blades, so that even when one happens to be canceled, another can quickly take its place.


	3. Coincidence

**Code: Disclaimer: Busou Renkin, all references to Busou Renkin, all characters of Busou Renkin, and Naruto do not belong to me. **

**Ben: . . .**

**Code: Oh my god! What's wrong?!**

**Ben: I'm tired of insulting you every time you say a disclaimer. (I'm not getting any reviews so I'm not motivated enough to slander you.)**

**Code: Oh my god! Call 9-1-1! (Help! Ben needs reviews)**

**Ben: Shut up! I'll strangle you!! (I can live without it!)**

**Code: -choke- -gurgle- -choke- (No you can't, you're choking me!)**

**Eheh, I just thought it was funny. CB. On a side note, the parenthesis were added _after_ the chapter was three-fourths written, as an on the spot thing.**

**Busou Nin**

Chapter 3: Coincidence

xxxx

"_Coincidence is God's way of staying anonymous." Albert Einstein_

xxxx

"Mita and Saruwatari?"a voice questioned.

"Yes," a voice of deeper stature confirmed. "The research lab has been destroyed, and we've lost our connection with the hidden Homunculi."

"Replaceable, however, the material for those Homunculi were gifts . . . from that man with yellow eyes."

"He stunk of death."

"Yes, but he was generous enough to assist me in my ultimate goal, do not forget . . . Speaking of the lab, what do you think? Renkin no Senshi, huh?"

"I can't think of any other explanation, but it's still hard to believe that one or two of them killed off every Homunculi."

"Kukuku. Is that so?" the first voice asked, laughing evilly. "Then we cannot neglect to greet them. As an added bonus, we could bring them over to . . . _our_ side. Kukuku . . ."

xxxx

"_Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see levers or pulleys." Emma Bull_

xxxx

"Tsu-Tsumura Tokiko?" Okakura said, looking into Kazuki's cell phone. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" he screamed, his eyes seemingly shooting out a light of contempt. "Kazuki has a girl's name in his cell phone!"

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Kazuki screamed just like Okakura, the same light appearing out of his eyes. "Okakura, you pervert!"

At this exclamation, several of the girls began whispering about this revelation.

"He's a pervert . . . Okakura-kun is a pervert . . ."

"Okakura-kun the pervert."

"Okakura-kun's a pervert."

"It's not true!" the target of gossip yelled, baring his sharp teeth, frightening the group of girls and making them back away with a fearful outburst.

"This kind of thing happens because you look at others' cell phones without permission," Daihama sighed. "When will you learn?"

Kazuki's cell phone began ringing, as did Naruto's. Kazuki answered his while Naruto continued to laze around in his seat. If both of them were to answer at the same time, then his cover would be ruined.

'_Damn it, Tokiko-chan!_' Naruto cursed. '_Is this for what happened today in the morning?! Ah well, you'll have to do better than that._'

"Oh, Tokiko-san?" Kazuki said, answering the phone. "Mm. I'm still kind of tired, but . . . Mm." he said as he walked down the aisle. Daihama had turned his head sideways, while Okakura's mouth was gaping, his eyes flashing red. "I'm fine, Tokiko-san."

"Huh, it looks like he really does have a girlfriend after all," Daihama commented, while Okakura proceeded to grind his teeth and glare at the brunette.

"Damn it! It looks like he's saying something about strawberries," the 'pervert' growled. "What are they talking about?"

"After school," Rokumasu told them, "they're going to meet at the haunted factory."

"You can hear?" Daihama asked.

"No," the spectacled high schooler replied, turning around from his book. "It's just lip-reading."

"_Just_ lip-reading?!" Okakura exclaimed. "Just what the hell are you?!"

Just as Kazuki left the class to take a trip to the bathroom, Naruto's phone rang again. This time, he flipped it open and placed it against his ear, listening to her beginning rant about not picking up.

"Oh, Tokiko-chan?"

"Tokiko-chan?!" Okakura and Daihama exclaimed.

"Yeah, uh-huh . . . What?! Don't tell me that you're still angry at me!" He held the phone at a distance now, but he could still hear her shouts. "Come _on_ how was that my fault? I already had to endure one of your grueling sessions."

"Grueling . . . sessions?" Okakura repeated, mouth ajar. "Gyaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Okakura, you pervert," Rokumasu sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll meet you there. Yeah. No, don't hurt me. Yeah, I won't ditch out on you. Yeah. Bye."

xxxx

"_When you live your life with an appreciation of coincidences and their meanings, you connect with the underlying field of infinite possibilities." Deepak Chopra_

xxxx

'_This just proves my point._'

Naruto stood on the roof of the factory, looking down upon Kazuki. The brunette had dug graves for the remains of the Homunculi, and was praying for them. It reminded him of the time he'd dug the graves for Haku and Zabuza back during the mission in Nami no Kuni. Hell, it brought back nostalgic memories, everything from tree-climbing with Sasuke to stuffing his face out. He even had the bridge named after him, oh the joy.

It was true. Enemy or not, they were just people who had been turned into monsters and given a new line of thought. As people who had been sacrificed, they deserved to at least be prayed for.

"What are you doing?" Tokiko called out from the roof of the first floor of the factory, catching Kazuki's attention.

"Tokiko-san."

"Let's go."

"Oh, sure."

She jumped off as he neared, and the both of them entered the factory. At night time, it was scary as hell, but it seemed a lot more peaceful during the day, especially with the destruction of the Homunculi who had inhabited the building.

"I wonder . . . is it really okay to just bury the remains of those we sacrificed ourselves?" Kazuki asked. It seemed that he'd been thinking on this question for a while.

"I don't consider it bad to pay your respects to the departed," Tokiko replied, expressing her own opinion. "Besides, they were sacrificed long ago, when they first became infected. All we could do was to help them pass on."

"Indeed."

They turned to see Henge Naruto walk up to them.

"Y-You!" Tokiko shouted, pointing at him. "Why are you-"

"Tokiko-san, who is this?"

"T-This was the ally that I was told you about yesterday." She abandoned her question for Naruto. Why was he here in person? Well, only _she_ knew about his true identity, but did he really trust her so much to not let out his secret? "Anyways, he's not that important. Let's move on."

"What about him?" Kazuki protested.

"It's fine," Naruto replied, waving them on. "I'm surveying the area, making sure there are no threats."

"Well, alright . . . Um, what's your name?"

"Hm?" Naruto said, his eyes widening a bit. "My name, eh? My name . . . is Uzuno Sarura."

"Uzu . . . Saru . . . what??"

"Never mind my name, it's not important. You have better things to be doing than talking to me. Scram."

"So, that guy aside, shouldn't we tell the police?" Kazuki asked as they continued walking.

Naruto looked on as they walked farther away, a reminiscent look on his face. The name he'd invented brought back memories. Some happy, many painful, but he dwelled the longest over the happy moments that he'd had with the short time he'd been in Kakashi's Team 7. Three years ago, that happy life had been shattered, leaving his innocence in the same state. From that point on, whenever he fought, it was usually for the kill, whether it was against Akatsuki, Orochimaru, or plain shinobi. Kazuki's innocence would eventually suffer the same fate, the fate of those who fought.

"That's not a part of my mission," Tokiko replied. "My mission is to fight. The police wouldn't be of any help anyway." The two began walking up the stairs towards the second floor. "The job that comes first for us . . ."

"Yeah!" he suddenly exclaimed. "If it's about _that_, well, I've been thinking about it also."

"Really?" she asked in a suspicious tone, turning around slowly.

"Yeah!" He held up a paper with a list of names. "First of all, I have to think up a cool name for my lance! Number one: Super Ultra Special Strong Muscle Deluxe! Number two: Dragonfly 2006!" By this time, Tokiko had gone from being surprised to sighing out of exasperation. "Number three: Simply, "Lance!". Number four: The Sword of Surprise! Now, which one?"

"Something like that comes last!" she growled as her presence became larger and more intimidating. "First off, we need to investigate about the enemy!"

"I even thought all these up overnight . . ."

"So _that's_ why you're so tired," Tokiko accused, pointing a finger at his face. "Get your act together!" she barked, moving forward suddenly and making him step back, startled.

"Y-Yes ma'am . . ."

They continued on up to the second floor, where a large metal door stood in front of them. It was already half open, courtesy of Tokiko, and the two walked into the dark room. There were no windows in here compared to the first floor, with the only light coming through the door, so it was darker. There was nothing inside, save for a small metal contraption sitting at the end of the room.

"While you were at school, I went over this place," she explained, leading him to the microwave-sized device.

"Uh, this is?"

"This is the device to produce the matter of Homunculi. I discovered it while looking through the basement."

"There's a basement?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot. You and your friends don't come here, do you?"

"Not really. On another note, what matter?"

"The matter is made using living cells as its base," said Tokiko as she walked up to the device and picked up the bottle that was placed on the middle of it. "The size of the matter is about three centimeters. It's a weak organism that can't survive much more than a day, unless it's in a narrow space, like this sealed flask. However, if that 'weak' organism, or matter, attaches itself to a human brain, it'll take over the body and changes its nature into a powerful man-eater than can retain a human form."

"You mean, like a parasite?" Kazuki asked, still not fully understanding.

"It's a mix of parasites and symbiotes. While parasites need to attach itself to a host to survive, like the matter, the matter lives within the host, changing it and molding it into something stronger that can support itself in the harsh world."

"Then . . ."

"Mita and Saruwatari were both products of that change," she confirmed. "They were once both human, but was infected and turned into Homunculi by the person who created the matter. Fortunately, each individual matter affects only a single individual, but that individual will sacrifice more to feed itself."

"That means that there'll be a lot of sacrifices," Kazuki concluded.

"That's right," she again confirmed, turning around to face him. "Even knowing that many innocents would be sacrificed to be eaten, someone did the research and work to create these monsters. He or she may even have had help, considering how many there were yesterday night. As you saw, the only thing that can stop them are our Busou Renkin."

xxxx

"_Coincidence, if traced back far enough, becomes inevitable." Hineu_

xxxx

"You're late," Naruto growled as Tokiko and Kazuki emerged onto the roof, the third floor of the factory. In comparison to the large floor plans of the previous floors, the third floor was in actuality a small, raised platform. Instead of using the _Henge no Jutsu_, he had clad himself in a black cloak from who knows where.

"Are you sure you should be-"

"Yes, I'm fine," he interrupted, not letting her finish. "Everything seems to check out clear . . . for the moment."

"Are you okay?" asked Kazuki, a concerned look on his face. "You sound different."

"He _does _sound different," Tokiko answered for Naruto. "That big bulky guy you saw back there wasn't his real form."

"Form?! Then is he . . ."

"No!" she exclaimed, surprising the brunette. "It's a special ability that he has. He's no Homunculus."

"Well, brushing that aside," Kazuki mended, an apologetic look replacing the previous expression, "just who is it that's been making those monsters? Who would even _think_ of sacrificing so many people, and what the hell do they gain out of it?"

Up in the sky, someone watched them from afar while Naruto hummed to himself quietly. Said someone stood on top of a large, eagle-like creature who flew slowly, slow to the point of almost hovering, over the factory. This was yet another Homunculus, but unlike the others, it looked a lot more robotic in comparison to the other animal-type Homunculi.

"**A high school boy and a high school girl. The third is unrecognizable, but would probably be in high school as well,**" the Homunculus stated to the human on top of him. "**The girl is wearing an unfamiliar uniform, while the boy is wearing a uniform from the same school as Creator. The third has on a black cloak, and his clothes are can't be seen.**"

"Good, good, the third one is just like _he_ described. Mysterious, seemingly powerful, and an unknown entity. Kukuku, I shall achieve my dream soon enough, however . . . I want him."

"**Shall I attack the others? I'm confident that I can wipe them out.**"

"No. We'll try to approach them first on friendly terms," the figure said, holding up a flask. In it was orange liquid, containing a Homunculus matter.

"**What of the back up, Creator?**"

"Oh, I have it. I will launch it later, when they're least expecting it. Kukuku."

"Someone who knows Renkinjutsu lives in this area," Tokiko said, meanwhile. "We can speculate about their goal, but at this point, we can't make any conclusions just yet. The creator of the matter could just be mad, or doing this for a more sinister cause."

"What we _can_ deduce, therefore," Naruto concluded for her, "is that this _creator_ does not consider the lives of humans as something precious. Instead, lives are something to be used and taken advantage of, for the creator's own benefit."

'_**Gyahahah! Hilarious. You say that, ahou, but you plan the same thing! Pathetic . . .**_'

Suddenly, Naruto felt a changing sensation in the wind, an air of danger. Quickly, he closed his eyes and tensed his body, feeling for changes in the air composition. This ability he had gained once he'd mastered the use of the wind element, was now put to use for the first time. In a fifty foot radius, he could feel nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Suddenly, something pierced the bubble, it was moving at high speed and aiming for . . . Tokiko!

'_There!_' he realized. He plunged into his cloak and to his shinobi holster, taking out a kunai and spinning it quickly on his finger until it settled into a throwing position.

Something small dropped near her neck, and Kazuki, seeing it, rushed forward, hand outstretched.

"Tokiko-san!"

"Tokiko, get out of the way!" Naruto roared, throwing the kunai.

She turned, her eyes once again changing into their dangerous disposition, caused by adrenaline. Tokiko's eyes widened slightly when she caught sight of the Homunculus matter heading straight for her. She immediately released her Busou Renkin, instinctively following Naruto's words and leaning her head forward. Just as her neck had gotten clear, the kunai flashed past, taking the matter out of the sky with it.

"**The matter was destroyed,**" the Homunculus in the sky relayed.

"Too bad, I only have one more. If we could get along, we'd be able to study the Kakugane as well. Well, it's of no consequence. Washio . . . attack."

The Homunculus named Washio shot out of his beak several dozen needle-like projectiles, which plummeted down to the ground at an alarming rate.

"Everybody out of the way!" Naruto pulled out a scroll, an emergency jutsu scroll. It was something Jiraiya had invented, a scroll that could unleash a jutsu once unsealed. He'd been given extensive training on the subject, along with several potent jutsu already sealed inside of scrolls. He reminded himself to thank the damned pervert if he ever got back in one piece. Unrolling the scroll, he left it in the air for a split second before placing a punch on the back. Immediately, the seal glowed brightly. The punch was more than just physical – it had the scroll's certain chakra pattern attached to the punch, to activate it. The higher the velocity of the force that hit the scroll, the faster the jutsu itself would be.

'_Raiton: Rairyuudan!_'

A dragon-shaped lightning bolt shot out of the scroll, intercepting the majority of the needles, while at the same time flying at indiscernible speeds towards the airborne Homunculus. Kazuki and Tokiko meanwhile dodged the spines, the brunette by jumping away and the scarred one (heh) performing several back flips.

"It's coming from above!" Tokiko said aloud. "Damn! They caught us unawares."

Washio dodged the lightning bolt by a hairsbreadth, the blast singing his left wing. He flew past the trio at high speed, turning around at a distance to charge at them again. While Naruto braced himself, Kazuki placed his right hand over his heart, releasing his Busou Renkin.

"He's coming!" she warned. "Throw your lance up into the sky. With the energy of Busou Renkin, it'll reach him faster than it normally would."

"But, if I miss . . ."

"Busou Renkin are born from your fighting instincts. You won't miss. Trust me."

"All right. Pierce, my Busou Renkin!"" he yelled, reeling back and throwing the lance straight up into the air. The sash glowed golden, feeding energy into the throw and sending it roaring to Washio.

At this time, Tokiko took a few running start and jumped up as well, taking hold of the end of the sash. The lance continued its way up at high speed, regardless of the extra weight now attached.

"Dodge it!" the figure commanded to Washio, who did so by turning his flight path to the right. That was when Tokiko finally reached them, her Valkyrie Skirt already moving forward to slash.

"Do you really think that I'll let you go?!" she yelled.

"Surprising," the figure said happily. "What wonderful . .._ specimens_." His smile turned into a malevolent grin.

Her Valkyrie Skirt thrust their blades, but Washio turned at the last second, veering away quickly. Tokiko was left hovering for a few seconds before gravity began pulling her and the lance down, while the Homunculus turned away from the factory, intent on leaving the area, what with the danger posed to the young man on his back.

"**Are you hurt, Creator?**"

"Just as I thought, they're not to be underestimated. Kukuku. And that third one, _he_ was really right. Strange, he is, sending a lightning bolt into the sky and damaging _you_, of all things. You are the fastest of all my Homunculi, and yet . . .

"**He is a worthy adversary.**"

'_At least we have a clue now,_' Tokiko realized as she continued her downward fall. She'd been close enough to the person on the Homunculus' back to be able to describe him roughly. '_That uniform he was wearing . . . He goes to the same school as Kazuki and Naruto._'

"Tokiko-san! I'll catch you!" Kazuki yelled up to her, running forward with his arms outstretched. Unfortunately, what came down was his lance, only mere centimeters from his face. It slammed down into the ground with a loud noise, leaving Kazuki's skin white from fright. Tokiko on the other hand had used the blades of her Valkyrie Skirt to halt her fall and land safely, dismissing the Busou Renkin immediately after. Sure, he was glad that she was safe, but he was certainly not. A few anime tears appeared in his eyes as he stiffly turned around, whimpering.

"Are you all right?" she asked apologetically. She received a wordless nod as her reply.

"I almost had him," Naruto muttered. He hunched over in defeat, sighing all the while. "If only I'd been faster . . ."

He turned to look at the two who had driven away the Homunculus. Kazuki was doing well, amateur or not, though he should learn not to worry excessively over others. That was when a second Homunculus matter appeared directly in front of his face. All of their eyes widened in surprise. The matter was too close, there was no time to kill it . . .! Yet again, Tokiko activated her Busou Renkin, the blades shooting forward and blocking the path of the matter, but also cutting into Naruto's skin. The matter was sent flying into the woods below as Tokiko and Kazuki ran up to Naruto.

"Sarura, are you all right?" the brunette questioned. "That was a close call!"

"Kazuki!" Tokiko said, turning around. "I want you to go down and see if you can find the matter. Destroy it if you do."

"Roger!" With that, he ran off down to the first floor.

"Are you all right?" she asked, pulling a few bandages out of her skirt pocket. She peeled apart the covers, pulled off his hood, and placed the bandages on his face. "Jeez, you and your crazy stunts. The lightning, I mean." Tokiko went over the bandages one more time with her fingers, making sure that they would stick and not come off while he did who knows what. "Next time be more aware of your surroundings if you want to call yourself shinobi."

"I could say the same to you, Tokiko-chan, Renkin no Senshi," he replied with a knowing smirk. "I saved your ass and you saved mine. We're even."

"I think not. I still have your identity."

"Y-You wouldn't!" said Naruto, though not really believing it himself.

"Hm, I have the upper hand," Tokiko clarified, placing a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "Unless by some fluke or blessing you save me again, I won't reveal it. And if you can't get even with me, then I have something for you to do."

"What's that _something_?" he asked suspiciously, thinking he might already know the answer.

"We'll see," she evaded. "In a week's time, if you can't get even, I'll tell you what you're going to do."

"Tokiko-san!" Kazuki yelled, as he ran up the stairs. Naruto put on his hood again quickly. "I couldn't find it in the immediate area!"

"We have to find it as soon as possible," Naruto decided aloud, placing his hands into the all too familiar cross seal. "I'll make it my duty to find and destroy it."

'_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_'

In their individual clouds of smoke, fifteen Kage Bunshin appeared, surprising Kazuki. Oh yes, he'd never seen Ninjutsu before, and what Saruwatari had said previously was right. In this world, Ninjutsu was something akin to the abilities of Homunculi, closer to it than the counterpart, Busou Renkin. Whereas Busou Renkin utilized the wielder's personality to form its shape, whereas Ninjutsu simply utilized the energy of the wielder, being molded and transformed into the final shape.

"Split up," the real Naruto ordered. "Find and destroy the target by any means necessary, but that doesn't mean you can burn the forest down either." The Kage Bunshin replied in a chorus of agreement, before all sixteen of them jumped off of the side of the factory.

"Uwah!" Kazuki yelled, running up to the side and looking down. By that time, they had all landed safely and were running into the forest in different directions. "H-How did he do that? Not get hurt, I mean."

"If you want to know, ask him later," Tokiko replied. "We have more important things to be worrying about."

"_More important_?"

"I could only count about thirty production devices inside of the basement," she told him. "This is a problem."

"Thirty? Why is that a problem?" Kazuki asked, oblivious.

"We fought at the very least one-hundred-and-fifty Homunculi inside the factory before you came. Thirty is not big enough. Either the person who's making the Homunculi have several bases or he or she is getting outside help."

"Hm . . . that _is_ a problem," he realized. "So since we don't know the exact number of Homunculi made, we don't know how many are still alive."

"Therefore," she continued, "This'll become a lot harder, especially if that matter from earlier gets away."

"We have to win, either way."

"That's right," Tokiko agreed. "Busou Renkin were created to be the opposite of Homunculi, to destroy them should they escape human control. If we were to lose, many would be sacrificed because of our inability to fight. We must not lose, we must defeat them."

"Right. We have to defeat them and stop future sacrifices of the innocent. That is our real victory. Ah, I'm going to go pray at the graves again."

'_He makes the hardest task sound so easy,_' Tokiko thought, half exasperatedly, half admiringly. "Wait," she called out, catching his attention just as he'd reached the door. "I'll come with you, but be on alert."

xxxx

"_Coincidences are a true paradox . . . On the one hand they seem to be the source of our greatest irrationalities, on the other hand, some of our greatest feats of scientific discovery depend on coincidences." Josh Tenenbaum_

xxxx

'_Clay . . ._' He crushed the remains in his fist angrily, his eyes flashing red. '_Clay . . . it's _him_ . . . or rather, _them'

"Show yourself!" Naruto demanded, falling into a basic Taijutsu stance. "I know that you're watching me."

"Aw, I guess senpai was right, my stealth _does_ suck," a voice said from the trees. He dropped down, wearing a cloak that Naruto had come to hate. "Yo! Tobi's my name, and Aka-"

He was interrupted by a furious barrage of shuriken, but Tobi dodged them easily by jumping to his right. His posture alone seemed to convey sadness at not being able to finish, but that was Tobi's style. He acted so innocent, doing whatever the higher-ups told him to do, but when he fought, he was a _monster_.

"Hey that wasn't nice!" the Akatsuki member whined. "Tobi's a good boy, so why do you have to be so mean?"

"How did you get here?" the blond demanded at his black-haired opponent.

"Oh, you mean this weird world?" Tobi asked for clarification. "Last thing I remember was good old Kakashi using his Mangekyou Sharingan on me. You know, the one that sends you to another dimension? Yeah, yeah, and I ended up here and I didn't know what to do, and-"

He was interrupted again, this time by a kunai with an explosive tag. It exploded, sending Tobi rolling over the floor.

"You talk too much," Naruto growled, pulling out two kunai and placing one in either hand. "Prepare to die!"

"W-Wait!" Tobi stuttered, stumbling backwards. "I know about those monsters you were talking about up on that roof! I know who's helping the guy make them!"

"How?" Naruto asked. "When exactly did you get here?"

"Yesterday," Tobi said, cocking his head. "All I know is that Leader told us that someone we knew was helping someone else make monsters, and that it was in a different world. Leader was all tense and stuff, I think it was because the guy had actually gone to another world, you know?"

"So, who _is_ helping to make these monsters?"

"Mm, you have to catch me first!" Tobi yelled happily before bounding off quickly through the trees.

"Shit!" the blond cursed as he followed suit, following the cloaked man through the trees at a fast pace. Tobi had higher stamina, physical-wise, and could tire out Naruto before attacking. Fortunately, the Akatsuki member wasn't very bright, and was probably _literally_ playing tag. If he was caught, he'd spill, such was the way of Tobi. At times, he even wondered why he called Kakashi-sensei a _good friend_. "Stop!"

"Make me!" Tobi sung out as he continued the chase.

'_Che!_' Naruto pulled out several kunai and explosive tags, carefully placing the tags around the handles. '_If he wants to play hard to get, I'll play hard to let live._'

'_**Haha, yes! I am finally rubbing off on you, my pathetic container!**_' Kyuubi roared pridefully. '_**One day, you will decide the fate of entire worlds, that I can assure you.**_'

'_In your dreams, furball!_'

He threw the kunai one by one, timing the direction, speed, and angle of the throw carefully so as to avoid hitting trees and making the kunai explode in the air. Tobi dodged the first by increasing speed and jumping off of a tree branch just in time. He dodged the second by blowing on the kunai and slowing its speed by just a fraction. The third was avoided by jumping vertically into the air at a tree branch to perform an aerial splits. Tobi dodged each explosive kunai with such mockery and absurd, unthinkable strategies that it began angering the blond pursuer.

'_Buki Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_'

xxxx

"_Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action." Auric Goldfinger_

xxxx

"That thing before in the sky was amazing, wasn't it?" Mahiro commented, her and Kazuki's group of friends traveling to the factory. "I wonder what it was."

"Hm, PET bottle rocket?" Daihama suggested.

"You think?" she asked.

"I don't know, I'm just throwing out ideas."

"Che! More importantly, let's hurry up and go," Okakura complained. "I want to see some _action_! Kazuki, that bastard! How dare he leave me out? Introduce her! Che."

"You have to remember that Naruto was supposed to meet her at the factory as well, at different times no less," Rokumasu stated, trying to reason with his friend, but just making him more fervent instead.

"Gyaaah! That Naruto, if he steals Kazuki's girl . . ." He then proceeded to imitate himself strangling someone.

"Mm, but would oniichan really be in such a place with a girl?" Mahiro asked as the group of four began walking again.

"I'll capture the strawberry scenario for you!" Okakura declared.

Meanwhile, outside of said factory, both Tokiko and Kazuki stood in front of the makeshift grave, praying for the deceased, sacrificed by them or not.

"Kazuki," she said with her eyes closed.

"What is it, Tokiko-san?" he replied, also with his eyes closed.

"You've attained power."

"Mm."

"However, even with that, it's still too early to say that you can prevent any further sacrifices." Opening her eyes, she turned to look at the brunette. "If you want to say such words, you must be able to use your Busou Renkin freely."

'_Freely?_' Kazuki thought, though he showed no confusion on his face. '_Does that mean I need to wield it faster?_'

"Come on, you can go faster than that!"

"Shut up, I won't let you out of my sights, bastard!"

They both turned around to see a strange person exit the trees next to the grave. He had on an orange mask with black lines spiraling down to a hole where the right eye should be. He had black, spiky hair, similar to Naruto's own hairstyle. The cloak he was wearing was black as well, embroidered with red clouds outlined with white. His pants were gray, and he had white leggings that went down and under the bottom of his sandals. All in all, he was a strange one. He flashed by, dozens of shuriken and kunai embedding the floor where he'd used to be.

Naruto flashed by afterwards, a dozen more of the sharp weapons in his hands.

"I won't let you get away!" he roared as he threw them all.

"Haha, you have to do better than that!" Tobi exclaimed as he twisted in midair, dodging them all.

'_Bingo._'

**BOOM.**

An explosion occurred in front of Tobi, pushing him back and sending him sprawling onto the floor.

"Ugh, that wasn't nice," he complained. "Hiding an exploding kunai in the weapons."

Naruto stood over him, his right leg on Tobi's chest and his arms crossed. Though one couldn't see his crimson-red eyes inside of the hood, Tokiko could literally feel the energy and intent that rolled off of the blond.

"I win, and you tell me what you know."

"A-Alright! Just don't hurt me," the Akatsuki member whimpered. "You're scary when you're mad, Na-"

Naruto stomped on Tobi's chest, hard, making the man grunt in pain. The message was sent clearly: Don't mention the name, or suffer more pain. Tobi began gasping for air as he nodded frantically. It seemed that Naruto had stepped on the man's chest too hard, and was now blocking off the circulation of air around the lungs. Oops.

"Oh, there they are!" Mahiro yelled out. Startled, Naruto quickly threw Tobi into the brushes and followed suit, hiding from the recently arrived people.

"Hey oniichan" she sang out, waving. Oh man, who told them that they were going to meet here?

"Did you tell them to come here?" Tokiko asked, turning to face Kazuki.

"No, I didn't say a word . . ." he replied, obviously confused about how their whereabouts had been discovered.

"Well, it's fine. I'll entertain them a bit and leave."

"What are you doing in a place like this?" Rokumasu questioned. He truly seemed curious about why they were near the _haunted_ factory, not that the spectacled teen even believed in ghosts and hauntings in the first place.

"Aaah! It's true! Oniichan _does_ have a girlfriend!" Mahiro exclaimed happily.

"Huh? W-W-W-What?" By this time, Kazuki had a shocked expression, an oversized sweat drop falling down the back of his head.

"Kaaaazuki!!!" Okakura screamed, his eyes glowing again.

"Congratulations," congratulated Daihama.

"Treat us to something." That came from Rokumasu. The guy had a love for free food, and was always trying to find ways to get his friends to buy food for him.

"Hey, since when? Since when?" his sister questioned.

"Uh-eeh? Girlfriend?" he asked, pointing at Tokiko. He kept looking back at his friends, then back at Tokiko.

"I see. So I'm your girlfriend?" girl in question asked, her eyes shadowed and her voice emanating danger. At that moment, a wind blew past, multiplying the 'doomsday' effect that Tokiko was radiating. Kazuki turned blue with fright, as did the others, save for Rokumasu. No, he just looked surprised. The other four began whimpering, until they decided to do the smart thing.

"We're really sorry!" they all yelled, bowing down to the floor in apology.

"Yeah, you should be sorry!" a voice came from behind them. "If Tokiko-chan is anyone's girlfriend, she'd be _mine_."

Kazuki turned, and felt his eyes widen in shock.

"N-N-Naruto!"

"Yo!" he greeted. "I followed you guys up here and found you all groveling for mercy. Anyways, what do you say Toki-GUH!"

Naruto collapsed onto the ground, a large rock having pegged him on the head. The source of origin came from an angry and shaking Tokiko, whose face had turned red, either from embarrassment or anger, none of them knew. She stalked up to the knocked out blond and began kicking him in the side viciously, frightening the audience further. Finished with the beating, Tokiko then proceeded to drag Naruto over to the group, throw him on his face, place his right arm behind his back, place a firm foot on it, and take his left arm with both of her hands.

"Ungh . . ." he groaned, coming to. "Did I . . . Did I get attacked?"

"You are now," she growled, pulling.

"GYAAAAAAH!"

Naruto's legs flailed around, trying unsuccessfully to reach her arms and attempt to remove them from his arm.

"No, no, please stop!" he begged. "I promise not to do it again, I PROMISE!"

"Swear on it!" she demanded.

"T-Tokiko-chan, you know I don't do that kind of swear- GAAH! Alright, alright! I swear that I won't try that agai- GAAAH! I swear that I won't _do_ that again!"

She let go of him, making him sigh in relief, but the other six, Tobi included, though he was still hidden in the brush, retreated backwards in the face of such violence.

"W-W-Well, if y-you aren't Kazuki's girlfriend or N-Naruto's girlfriend, then what are your r-r-r-relationships?" Daihama stuttered. He'd always thought of girls as mostly friendly, but Tokiko just seemed plain dangerous.

"G-ehehehehe," Naruto chuckled, freaking everyone out but prompting Tokiko to kick him in the side again. "Thanks, Tokiko-chan, that kick helped jump-start my voice box. Anyways, Tokiko-chan and I go _way_ back! We're childhood friends!"

'_**A pathetic excuse for a pathetic mortal. If I were you, I would have declared her my slave, or perhaps a beaten rival.**_'

'_Does she look beaten to you?!_'

'_**Point made, mortal, however, you forget, I stated that if **_**I**_**, not you, were you, then I would have declared her my slave or beaten rival, simply because it would have been true,**_' Kyuubi countered.

'_Ehhhhh, you confuse me, Kyuubi._'

'_**I suspected that your fleshy little mortal brain could not match up against a demon's brain in intelligence.**_'

'_If you were so smart, you wouldn't have gotten yourself sealed in me in the first place, _baka-kitsune'

"Oh, so you know each other well?" Mahiro asked.

"Of course!" Naruto declared. "I know Tokiko-chan has a fetish for tea-GUCK! -choke- Being . . . -gurgle- strangled . . . -choke- need help . . ."

Tokiko, while choking him with both hands, shook him back and forth, yelling all the while.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, BAKA?! JUST BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS HAVE TEA AT MY PLACE DOESN'T MEAN THAT I HAVE A GOD DAMN FETISH! I WOULDN'T GIVE YOU ANY COFFEE BECAUSE THAT'D MAKE YOU MORE HYPER THAN YOU ALREADY USUALLY ARE!" She finished the rant with panting from the overexertion of yelling, and a bit of screaming at the 'fetish' part.

"And what of Kazuki?" Rokumasu interjected. "It looks like your avoiding the topic by beating poor Naruto."

"Kazuki," Tokiko began, "is an acquaintance. We met yesterday."

"Aha! Possible relationship!" Okakura exclaimed. "Strawberries!"

"W-What the heck are you babbling about, Okakura?" Kazuki replied shakily. "I'm just helping Tokiko-san with something before she moves."

"Moving? Where?" his sister asked this time.

"To a hotel!"

Okakura looked at Naruto, who had spoken, then Tokiko, who was glaring at Naruto, then at Kazuki, who was clueless. The high schooler attempted to put two and two together, but when combining, he slipped, and the two pieces of information got stuck together in an absurd position.

"Gyaaaaah! Hotel?! Do you mean to say . . . that you're going to _move in_ with her?!"

"WHAT?!" Kazuki shouted in surprise. "Look at yourself talk! That's absurd!"

"Kazuki's right!" the blond confirmed in his sitting up position. "She gets mad as it is when I come over unexpectedly, she'd be even angrier if someone tried to move in with her . . . I would know, I've tried."

"You've tried?!"

"Oh man," Daihama sighed, a palm on his face to block out the embarrassing scene from view. "Kazuki-kun, just ignore Okakura-kun."

"Say," interrupted Rokumasu, "instead of standing around here and talking, why don't we go somewhere for drinks?"

"Ah, that sounds good!" Mahiro agreed.

"We _do _have a lot to talk about, after all . . . Naruto . . . Kazuki."

"No, I-"

Naruto halted Tokiko's sentence with a quick hand to her mouth and his own sheepish grin.

"Forgive her, she's kind of antisocial," he explained.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" she whispered fiercely, glaring at him. Without a response, he pointed to Mahiro, who had turned around. "What-" Tokiko's eyes widened when she saw it, but returned to normal, so as not to attract attention from Rokumasu, who seemed to be keeping an eye on them. Wrapped around a lock of her hair was the Homunculus matter, waiting to pounce at any moment to take over someone. Kazuki looked at her confusedly at the abrupt action, but found himself seeing what she was seeing as well.

"Yay!" Kazuki's sister exclaimed in happiness. "Everyone, let's move out!"

Rokumasu, Daihama, and Okakura all muttered their agreements as they turned around for everyone else to follow. Ah, if only they knew how much danger they were in.

"Tokiko-san," Kazuki whispered, sidling up next to her. "That thing . . . my sister."

"Yeah. This is getting troublesome. I shouldn't have deflected it, but destroyed it . . . but if I hadn't, then N-Sarura would've been killed, either by the matter or by my own blade."

"Hey, if you two don't hurry up I'm going to drink your drinks for you!" Naruto called out, playing the fool in front of Kazuki. Inside, he was breaking down. The phrase that Tokiko had juts said, 'This is getting troublesome', it had been a phrase that Shikamaru had used often whenever they'd gotten into a tough spot. In every situation, the genius had been able to get them out narrowly, using his smarts, and Tokiko, smart as she was, and having used that phrase, had reminded him of the home that he missed so much. Okay, he didn't miss Konoha all that much, but it was the precious people within the village that he truly missed.

'_Iruka-sensei . . . he must be worried. And Tsunade-baachan too._'

He looked to the sky, stopping his movement for a while.

". . ."

"Naruto, hurry up!" Mahiro called back to him. "Tell oniichan and Tokiko-san to hurry up as well!"

". . . The sky looks the same as it did in Konoha," he murmured. "No matter where I am, as long as I can see the same sky that you're seeing, I'll never disappear."

xxxx

"_People break down into two groups when they experience something lucky. One sees it as evidence of a higher power, while the other see it as pure luck." M. Night Shyamalan_

xxxx

"I'll get rid of it," Tokiko volunteered as the seven of them walked down the road that diverged from the path that led to the factory.

"I'll help as well," Kazuki said, determined to save his sister.

"No," she disagreed. "stay out of this. We have to get rid of it without anyone noticing. Should we fail, everyone will be in danger. Once it reaches the brain, it's the end. At that point, there's nothing more we can do other than to give them a merciful death. The victim will have their mind crushed and their body taken, and will no longer be themselves, becoming a man-eating monster."

"I understand, but this is my sister we're talking about," he protested.

"I know where you're coming from, but you still can't activate your Busou Renkin discreetly without anyone else knowing. Your attacks use large scale techniques that rely on brute strength. Also, you can't use Busou Renkin freely yet."

Kazuki turned his head away, closing his eyes for a second, then reopening them, reassuring himself that Tokiko could do this.

"My Valkyrie Skirt is quick and accurate. Its four blades and arms can deal with four possible targets."

"There are five of them, though," he pointed out.

"Naruto can take care of himself. Remember, he's known me. He knows what I do. Anyways, Naruto aside, no matter who the matter goes for, my Busou Renkin can cope with it. So, which one of them will it go for?"

At that moment, the Homunculus matter moved and Naruto, sensing danger, hopped back quietly.

'_It moved!_' both Kazuki and Tokiko saw.

Busou Renkin activated, Valkyrie Skirt's four blades shot towards the matter, which it dodged by shooting straight for Tokiko. At least, it seemed to, until it dodged an incoming shuriken and changed direction . . . straight for Naruto.

'_Shit! It can dodge in midair?!_' All three thought to themselves. Her Busou Renkin's blades retracted and thrust themselves at the matter again, but it evaded this time by latching onto the edge of the weapon, swinging itself with the tail and throwing itself yet again at Tokiko.

'_What kind of matter is this?!_'

'_Che!_' Naruto growled mentally as he grabbed a surprised Kazuki's arm and knocked into Tokiko, sending all three falling over the edge.

"Huh?" Okakura muttered as the other four turned around to see no one behind them.

"Where's oniichan?" Mahiro asked.

"And Naruto?" Daihama added.

"They ran away . . ." Rokumasu concluded, straightening his glasses.

"Kaaaaazuki!!!" Okakura screamed, eyes glowing.

Meanwhile, Naruto slid down the steep hill with both Tokiko and Kazuki in tow, but it was harder than it looked, trying to balance down something like this with two people at once. If he'd been quick enough to stick with chakra from the beginning, then he wouldn't have had to do this, but he hadn't. If he did so now, he might cause slight internal damage from the abrupt stop.

Luck shone upon him when Tobi appeared in the treetop, motioning for Naruto to throw one of them over. Nodding his thanks at the childish Akatsuki member, he tossed over Kazuki, and with one less load on his arms, he began ninja-jumping down along with Tobi. Well, that is, until Tobi accidentally smacked himself in the head by running into a hidden tree branch, sending Kazuki flying onto the floor and rolling down the hill. Tobi was left hanging by his head, wondering why he had stopped moving.

xxxx

"_Coincidence is logical." Johan Cruijff_

xxxx

"Ugh," Kazuki groaned, opening his eyes slowly.

"You're finally awake?" Tokiko asked, holding her side while she sat on a log. "The sun's already set."

"What happened?" he gasped out as he sat up quickly. "Where's Naruto?"

He turned to where she'd pointed. Naruto was laying to his left, seemingly unconscious.

"I found him like that moments after we got down safely . . . well, me and Naruto, that is. The guy that carried you got stuck on a tree branch and you fell down the rest of the way."

"WHAT?!" Kazuki exclaimed. "When I see that guy, I'll . . . whatever. Anyways, how _did_ he pass out?"

"I suspect it was from running down the hill, carrying both of us about a quarter of the way, and then carrying me for the rest," Tokiko speculated. "It's not easy getting down from a hill that steep, even for Naruto."

"I saw him throw that . . . weapon," the brunette recalled. "The same one that Sarura was using. Could you tell me the truth?"

"The truth? Your body is covered in wounds after falling for so long."

And at that moment, a painful . . . a _very_ painful sensation traveled up his body, paining every single muscle, bone, and organ he had in his body. Of course, this resulted in a very appropriate outburst.

"IIIIITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!" (Ouch!!!)

He was left twitching from the pain. Sure the yell had released a lot of the tension that the pain had caused, but a good part of it was still there. Oh gods, when he got a hold of the fool that dropped him, he'd make him- what was he thinking? Violence wasn't the answer to everything. Sure, he'd been dropped, making him hurt all over, but maybe the guy was just clumsy . . . or . . .

"Who was the guy carrying me? And tell me the answer to the previous question, Tokiko-san!"

"Alright," she sighed. "Naruto is Sarura, are you satisfied for the first? Because I hope you are. The guy that carried you was that masked man. Naruto called him Tobi, which seems to be his name."

"What happened to him?" he asked, truly curious. "I don't see him around."

"I suspect his head's still caught in that tree branch, dangling there like a doll."

"I . . . see. Ah! What about the Homunculus matter?" he asked. "Did you get hit?"

Naruto groaned as he sat up, rubbing his forehead all the while, surprising Kazuki. Didn't Tokiko just say that he'd carried her all the way down _that_ steep hill? He could understand his own being unconscious because of being knocked around, but that kind of exertion should've left the blond unconscious for at the least a day or two, not just half. Counting the fact that Sarura was Naruto, and seemed to know a lot about weaponry and strange techniques, Naruto was now an enigma of the highest order.

"It's all right," the said, assuring both of them now that they were both conscious. "Thanks to Naruto, the matter didn't penetrate my brain." With that, she lifted her shirt up a bit, revealing the matter. It was sunken into her skin, located to the right of her navel. The damage seemed near permanent.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't able to do anything," Kazuki apologized. "If only I'd been stronger . . ."

"Stop it," Naruto ordered. "Tokiko-chan told you not to interfere, and when her life became jeopardized, as shinobi, I stepped in. My job forces me to specialize in stealth and silent killing, but I lean more towards the destructive nature of shinobi. You didn't do anything wrong, there's no need for you to apologize to her."

"But still, I'm sorry!" the brunette said forcefully. "I _know_ that I didn't do anything wrong, but that's exactly it. I didn't do _anything_!"

"So you feel helpless," concluded Naruto. "Don't be. Whenever you feel helpless, the only solution is to become stronger. Kazuki, do not feel . . . _act_. If you don't want to feel that helplessness again, become stronger, strong enough to protect those who you consider _precious_."

Precious . . . the word was also nostalgic. Haku had first introduced the concept of fighting to protect precious people. In the past, it'd been done instinctively, but to actively know and act upon it, deriving strength from the determination to protect that person, that was the first. Ever since then, he'd fought and fought for them. Iruka-sensei, who had been his first. Kakashi-sensei . . . Naruto had found out from Anko that Kakashi had always looked out for him as a young boy. Not _all_ the time, as Kakashi was an Elite Jounin and well desired by employers, but whenever the cyclopean Jounin had a chance. Gaara, someone who had understood his pain. There were so many others that he couldn't keep count.

"Do . . . do you really think so, Naruto-san?" Kazuki asked, shaking slightly.

"Call me Naruto . . . and yes, I think so. I've lived my life based around the two principles of protecting my precious people . . . and always keeping a promise. That's my nindo, my way of the ninja."

"So," Tokiko muttered, her eyes narrowed, "since you promised not to pull such stunts earlier, you won't break that promise, right?"

"Right, I'll follow through with the promise. It was actually meant as a joke, but anyways, I won't do it again."

"Anyways, concerning the problem at hand," she said, changing the subject, "before this annoying thing makes it up and into my head, we have to finish this."

"Y-You can be saved?!" Kazuki exclaimed, a smile on his face.

"If there wasn't any hope, I would have finished myself off long before you even opened your eyes." Turning away, she looked up at the full moon. "At the distance the matter attached itself to, it should take about a week for it to reach my brain. Within that short time period, we have to get rid of any and all Homunculi and get the cure from the creator with the Papillon mask. If we can't make it within the time limit, then . . . I'll become a Homunculus." She turned to face Naruto and Kazuki. "If it ever comes to that, you must kill me."

"There is someone else," Naruto said abruptly as he too looked up at the moon.

It'd been a full moon the night Sasuke had left Konoha, leaving Sakura unconscious on a bench. In the end, Sasuke had limped off towards Otogakure, while a heavily injured Naruto was recovered by Sasuke. Neji and Chouji had been in critical condition at the time, while Kiba, while having taken less damage than the other two, was confined to a hospital bed for a week. Shikamaru had only broken a finger, so he didn't have to stay long, either. From that point on, his nindo had changed. No longer would he never break promises . . . he would forever more keep his promises.

"Right!" Tobi cried out as he appeared from the underbrush. "I finally got myself out of that tree branch, and what timing, eh?"

"Someone else?" Kazuki repeated.

"Yeah, there's someone else" the masked man sung out. "Naruto-san caught me, so I might as well finally tell you. He's-"

As if spiting them, evil laughter filled the clearing. Homunculi appeared at every tree, surrounding the four. Unlike the slow ape-like Homunculi, these were snake-like, vicious, quick, and worst of all, sneaky little bastards. There were about one-hundred, similar in number to the previous encounter. Perhaps with Tobi's presence though, the battle could progress smoother.

"Eeek! Snakes!" Tobi screamed.

Perhaps not.

The Homunculi charged swiftly. Tokiko, fully intent on fighting, pulled out her Kakugane.

"Busou-" Searing hot pain overtook her, and she instinctively grabbed for her side. The matter! It was interfering with her ability to use the Busou Renkin! She knew that Homunculi couldn't use them, but to such a point that she could barely use it when she was just infected . . .

Five Homunculi neared in on her position. It was either the creator hadn't ordered this attack and the Homunculi were taking matters into their own hands . . . or someone was commanding them, or that the creator didn't want a Renkin no Senshi Homunculus. Seeing as how devoted the creator seemed to be, it must've been the first choice. They reared up to strike, but were cut down by Kazuki's Lance Busou Renkin.

'_What?! No sound activation or movement?_'

"Tobi, stop acting like a scared schoolgirl and fight!" Naruto roared, wind spiraling around his right arm.

'_Kaze no Yaiba._'

The blade of wind fully formed, he took to slashing at the Homunculi left and right, going for the heads first, then the markings. It took longer, but it was definitely safer and easier. While he formed a second blade in his left, he kept a careful eye on the currently disabled Tokiko and her protector, Kazuki. The two were surrounded by two dozen Homunculi in a large circle . . . large enough for him to do something without hurting his comrades. Concentrating every last bit of willpower, he commanded the wind to act up and slash at the Homunculi.

It did so without hesitation, killing half of them in an instant. It seemed that with the completion of elemental manipulation training, he was able to manipulate raw wind itself as a weapon, though it wasn't nearly as potent as the blades he were using, which were sharpened wind. He cut through another four, attempting to conserve his own chakra, but there were too many, and he'd have to force himself over his limit.

Naruto discarded the blades and plunged a fully powered Rasengan into one, tearing it apart and two others behind it. It seems that in sheer numbers, it was just better to deal with Homunculi quickly, in the form of shuriken and kunai. He did so, performing a few rounds of _Buki Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_, thinning the ranks of Homunculi by about twenty.

"Tobi, what do you know that we can use?" he asked suddenly when he neared the masked man.

"Deidara-senpai always told me this: 'Tobi, you're all brute strength and no brains'."

"Brute strength as in?"

"Big Ninjutsu!" Tobi shouted, performing some hand seals.

"W-Wait!"

"Too late, Naruto-san!" he yelled, slamming both of his hands onto the floor. "_Doton: Retsudo Tenshou_!"

The ground underneath began trembling as large cracks began spreading out from Tobi's standing point. The Homunculi contented themselves with looking at the cracks, wondering what it would do, that is, until they opened up and swallowed up the majority of the Homunculi.

Naruto deadpanned, his coloring white at the display of destruction Tobi had just shown.

'_Impressive . . . Brute strength beat pretty much all of the Homunculi, and he even created the least amount of attention in the area possible._'

"Pierce, my Busou Renkin!" Kazuki shouted as he fell from the air, piercing, as the name of the move suggested, five of the Homunculi in the head. Four more jumped at him using their tails, but Kazuki merely ducked under them, slicing each of them in half quickly, and that was impressive when using such a bulky weapon.

"I will protect Tokiko-san!" he declared, his sash glowing golden. "Pierce!" he roared, cutting through another four.

Picking out a few choice shuriken, Naruto dealt with the sparse amount of Homunculi left in the vicinity with pinpoint accuracy. For once, he'd been glad that an Akatsuki member was on his side. For once, he was relieved that Tobi had redeemed himself by performing admirably in battle, childish and immature or not. Finally, the cracks in the ground could be attributed to an earthquake, and it would never be found out that it was their work. Mission accomplished.

"Thank you Tobi, you did great," Naruto congratulated the masked man. "You made it so much easier, by swallowing up pretty much all of those Homunculi."

"T-T-Thanks, Naruto-s-san," he mumbled, before collapsing on the spot.

"Chakra exhaustion," the blond sighed knowingly. "Wait a second, now he can't tell us who's helping the creator!!"

**Thud.**

"What was that?" Tokiko asked, turning her head to the origin of the noise. The remains of a frog-like Homunculus had fallen over from a tree.

"Same type as Mita and Saruwatari," Naruto analyzed after a moment's look. "It seems that the creator is getting stabbed in the back by whoever was helping in the first place."

"This doesn't look good," muttered Kazuki.

"No, it doesn't," Tokiko agreed. "It's not often you see Homunculi against Homunculi, and that's only seen when they're desperate."

"Our only hope is to wait for Tobi to recover and spill the secrets that the backstabber doesn't want us to know about," Naruto concluded. "Our new mission is to protect Tobi, in addition to finding a cure for Tokiko-chan!"

"Right! Within that week, I'll master the use of this lance!" Kazuki vowed, holding up his Busou Renkin. "I promise to protect . . . my precious people with my Busou Renkin!"

xxxx

"_The worst possible turn can not be programmed. It is caused by coincidence." Friedrich Durrenmatt_

xxxx

On the side, the fight scene in this chapter was shorter, mainly because of Tobi's introduction into the world of Busou Renkin. This chapter was spent building up on the AU that will occur within the next few chapters, branching off greatly from the anime/manga, but the same timeline going on with changes. I've been keeping a lot of things in the dark, and I hope to god that you guys don't guess right.

**Vocabulary**

Baka - Idiot

Buki – Weapon

Itai – Ouch!

Kukuku – Low and evil laugh

**Jutsu List**

_General_

**Buki Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Weapon Shadow Clone Technique) –**B-Rank – This is basically a combination of the Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It is basically a culmination of the Kage Bunshin series, the user creating clones of any weapon that they possess, to create a multitude of varied weapons. This is useful in that it uses less chakra than performing several individual jutsu, as well as the varied weaponry making it harder for the opponent to effectively dodge every single one.

**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)** – B-Rank – Unlike the normal Bunshin no Jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu creates real flesh-and-blood copies of the user. They can fight, experience emotions, and perform jutsu just like the user. When using jutsu though, they have to use the store of chakra that was placed in them during creation. The amount of chakra in Kage Bunshin can be altered. Any information and mental experience that the Kage Bunshin experiences is also passed on to the user when they are killed or dispelled, which makes it particularly useful for missions involving reconnaissance and stealth.

_Earth_

**Doton: Retsudo Tenshou (Earth Release: Splitting Earth Force)** – A-Rank – This jutsu creates large cracks and rifts in the ground, accompanied by violent shaking. This is done by slamming one's open palms onto the ground filled with chakra, destabilizing the ground and sometimes causing it to collapse and create large changes to the landscape. This jutsu is best utilized with several other shinobi, to multiply the destructive damage.

_Wind_

**Kaze no Yaiba (Blade of Wind) –**B-Rank – Comparably more complicated than the Daitoppa in that the user concentrates chakra into the form of wind into their hand, and then manipulating its shape into that of a sword. As a Fuuton jutsu, it is very dangerous because of its natural sharpness and origin. The user can spawn off more of the blades, so that even when one happens to be canceled, another can quickly take its place.

_Lightning_

**Raiton: Rairyuudan no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Blast Technique)** – A-Rank – The user creates a magnetic field, from which they shape a dragon. When it hits the opponent, it explodes, releasing paralyzing or deadly lightning into their body, either incapacitating or killing them. The severity of the jutsu can be controlled by the amount of chakra placed into the dragon.


	4. Trouble

**Code: Disclaimer. I don't own Naruto or Busou Renkin, but I do love Okakura's antics.**

**Ben: What the hell does that have anything to do with not owning them?**

**Code: Nothing, really.**

**Busou Nin**

Chapter 4: Trouble

xxxx

"_The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was." Walt West_

xxxx

"Hey, Mahiro!" Kazuki called up, waving as he approached his sister in the halls of their dormitory.

"Oniichan!" she exclaimed, turning around.

He went up to Mahiro and her two friends and stopped, putting up a _very_ serious face. She hadn't seen her brother look like that ever since the time she'd been bullied by some kids in middle school. He beat them all up, of course, for picking on his adorable little sister. So surely, this had to be something important.

"Please lend me your uniform!"

While her two friends tried to ponder up a reason of why Kazuki would need his sister's dress, Mahiro was blinking slowly. Did he just ask her for her uniform? What for? Ah well . . .

"Okay!" she yelled, giving him a thumbs-up.

Immediately, her friends took both of her arms and dragged her away, very quickly. They even kicked up a trail of dust . . . And now he was alone, and still in need of a uniform. How cruel the world was. Kazuki slumped in his posture, walking away slowly back to his room. In time though, he was walking with his normal posture again. Nothing could really make him depressed for long, because he would always just jump back up to try again. His similarities to Naruto were astounding, but only Naruto really knew just how similar they were, having been like Kazuki several years back.

". . . After that, her friends ran away, taking her with them," Kazuki relayed, scratching the back of his head apologetically.

"Of course," Tokiko muttered from her seat on his bed, "it's the most natural thing in the world to react like that when a boy is asking for a girl's school uniform. Anyways, it doesn't matter whether or not I'm wear a regular uniform. As long as I can walk around your school without raising suspicion, your P.E. uniform should do fine."

"That's right!" he exclaimed, slamming his right hand's closed fist into his left hand's open palm. "Those uniforms are unisex!"

"Alright, we'll think about how we should conduct the search tomorrow," she said, standing up to leave, receiving a nod from the brunette.

'_One week until the matter reaches her brain,_' he thought to himself, watching her walk away from the dormitory.

xxxx

"_Trouble brings experience, and experience brings wisdom." Anonymous_

xxxx

In the first day of the search, Kazuki entered the school gates to see Tokiko already there, wearing the P.E. uniform and waving him over with a piece of paper in her left hand. She was still holding her side with her right hand. Whether it hurt or whether it was just heavy, he didn't know, and Kazuki felt it sort of . . . _rude_ to ask such a thing.

"The physical characteristics of the Papillon Mask Creator are written on this memo," she informed him, handing over the piece of paper. "I had a look at his armband while I was in the air. Judging from the lines, the Creator is a third-year student. Altogether, there are six classes in the third year. If we can check two classes top to bottom each day, we'll finish within there days."

"Right."

"It's only a matter of time. Let me know if you find a guy like that. I'll come to confirm it afterwards."

"We still don't know his face though, right?" he asked hesitantly. "How will I know that it's him?"

"You'll know it when you see his eyes. The kind of eyes with a rotten look to them."

Meanwhile, in a room at an unknown location, a figure coughed violently in his bed. He was sitting up, with a glass of water on the nightstand next to him and several pills clutched in his hands. At first sight, one would think that he was merely sick.

"Master, are you all right?" Washio said urgently.

"Heh," the Creator muttered, "it was a bad idea to ride on top of your back without taking my health into consideration." He then raised his hand to swallow the pills, washing them down with water.

"Master," a woman spoke up, stepping forward, "it would be wise to leave here for now."

"Because of the Renkin no Senshi?" he asked.

"That and . . . that man, I don't trust him. Kawazui disappeared during his mission to tail the boy. The area was later found to have been the victim of a minor and concentrated earthquake."

"As I've said before, he stinks of death," Washio growled. "Has it been proven that he caused Kawazui's disappearance?"

"I was able to retrieve some of his frogs intact," a second man answered. "Their recording showed his death by the work of snake-like Homunculi, not of our making."

"I see, so he's finally branching off," the bedridden high schooler muttered. "Assemble the remaining Homunculi. You know what to do. Eliminate the threat."

When the Homunculi had left, he sighed and settled back into his bed, laying his head on the soft pillow.

'_What will become of this?_'

As it so happened, Tokiko and Kazuki had met up again under a sakura tree during the lunch break. From the looks on their faces, it was to be expected that their search wasn't going well, particularly when the person they were looking for wasn't even in school . . . not that they knew that, of course.

"He's really hard to find," Kazuki complained. "_Really_ hard to find."

"What did you expect?" his partner asked. "It hasn't even been half a day since we started searching for the Creator."

"Is that so?" he replied, yawning widely.

"Hm? Are you tired? You have to get a decent night's sleep, Kazuki, or else you won't be able to function properly.

"What about you, Tokiko-san?" he shot back. "Are_ you_ all right? You've been holding your side since last night."

"Oh, you mean the matter?" she asked. "It's a bit heavy, so I'm unconsciously holding it, that's all," Tokiko explained. "It's really nothing to worry about. What we _should_ be worrying about is the success of our mission, as well as Naruto's."

"I see . . . What's he doing, anyway?"

"He went off by himself to investigate into the mysterious individual helping the Creator make Homunculi," Tokiko replied just as the bell rang, signaling the students to start returning to class.

"What about school?"

"Left a Kage Bunshin."

"Man," Kazuki whined, "I wish that I had a Kage Bunshin to take all my classes _for_ me."

"Instead of whining on and on or worrying about the two of us, why don't you get back to class?"

"Class," he muttered. "What class . . . Oh no!" He stood up and began running towards the school. "It's P.E.! That's right, I don't have my jersey!" Kazuki realized. "Then there's only one option! Mahiro!" he called, running into the school and into her classroom. "Lend me your P.E. Uniform!"

"Okay!" she said, holding up her P.E. shorts . . . the ones that girls wore.

"Doesn't he have a jersey?" Mahiro's brunette friend mumbled, the other purple-haired friend also in a state of disbelief.

xxxx

"_Trouble is the common denominator of living. It is the great equalizer." Soren Kierkegaard_

xxxx

'_The scent of Homunculi . . . it stops here._'

He looked up at the large building in front of him. A church . . . ironic, since the beasts were savage man-eaters. It was an abandoned church to be precise, with shutters broken and walls cracked. Walking up to the large set of wooden double doors, he pushed them open slowly. It creaked loudly as the space in between widened, showering light into the room. There was nothing . . . But then again, what genius would leave things in plain sight when he knew that there were people after his whereabouts? Manipulating his wind chakra, he directed it to search the room for any cracks or other evidence of a hidden door.

'_There!_'

It was a small door in the far corner of the church, large enough only for a thin high schooler to crawl through. The odor from inside was damp, suggesting that it led to an underground room. It figured, these villains always liked building bases underground, and Orochimaru was a prime example. All of Orochimaru's bases had been underground. The prisons were not, because they were prisons, not bases.

'_Henge no Jutsu._'

Turning into a snake, the animal that he hated most, Naruto slithered through the small tunnel, traveling swiftly. Seeing a light, he sped up to reach the other end. What he saw when he came out was another empty room.

'_Don't tell me that there's _another_ secret passage,_' the blond growled mentally.

'_**There is likely another secret passage.**_'

'_Shut up, Kyuubi._'

He found the second secret passage, this time set in the floor in the form of a trapdoor. Unlocking it using a nifty and useful hairpin – remind him to thank Kiba sometime – he went down the stairs. The room that opened up from the second passage was filled with documents and files. Information on how to create the matter, the information that had sacrificed so many people. Right now, he was sorely tempted to just slice everything to pieces, but that would make the investigation all for naught. While Tobi lay unconscious in Naruto's hotel room, he had to find out himself who the link was.

'_Homunculus matter creation . . . ingredients . . . associates!_'

He took the folder quickly, opening it up. There was only one file inside, but there was a problem. All important information had been blacked out or destroyed. Had someone gotten here before he had? Cursing his inability to be any quicker, Naruto nevertheless packed up all of the files and folders into a storage scroll, for safe keeping.

"Well, might as well burn the room before I leave."

'_**Wait.**_'

'_What is it?_'

'_**. . . someone is coming,**_' Kyuubi warned, before his presence disappeared.

'_Someone's coming? Why? Answer me!_'

Silence.

"Shit, shit, shit," he muttered, making sure he had everything. A sliding noise was heard, probably the person crawling through that tunnel. "Damn! Forgot to close the secret doors! Okay, calm down Naruto, you can do this. _Henge_!"

A blond girl wearing the same uniform as Tokiko came down the stairs, her green eyes darting here and there warily. She was short too, shorter than even himself, and that was saying something, considering that they were both in high school . . . well, if the uniform was any indication, anyway. Also to consider was the slightly feral look that her face resembled.

"Everything is gone," she said to herself. "Someone's been in here recently. Hm?" That's when she spotted the single piece of paper on the floor. Picking it up, she read, "Haha, everything is gone and not here. Got you . . . there's no name . . ."

Naruto the piece of paper would've sighed in relief, but she was still holding him. His eyes would've bulged when she started sniffing him, the paper.

"I smell you, human."

'_Human?! Then she's . . ._'

He transformed back with a cloud of smoke, and by the time it dissipated enough for her to see, he was already at the top of the stairs. Determined, she chased after him just as quickly. Speed like hers wasn't human in this world, and he'd already guessed that she was a Homunculus. He'd have to remember to ask Tokiko about the uniform later.

"Stop!" she yelled, but he paid it no heed.

"I don't know what you want from me, but go away!" he yelled back. "I'm not tasty, I'm not a good fighter, and I don't have any important files or folders!"

"I never asked about that, but it seems that you're all three," she said, deadpanning.

He continued to run and she continued to chase, the two of them traveling through the forest quickly and without tiring. Naruto originally meant to lose her, but she was just as quick as he was, in reaction time, movement speed, and natural shinobi bounciness. He was hard pressed to consider her a Homunculus when compared with the others, but he remembered something that Kyuubi had said. _Homunculi do not only take animal shapes._

"Don't make me hurt you!" the blond Homunculus threatened.

"Why should I stop?" Naruto demanded to know. "You're a Homunculus, and I'm a human!"

"Because, you can't go any further without me!"

"Without you? What do you mean I can't go any further?"

"The one you seek is in Homunculus infested lands," she told him. "We have a common goal, but without my help, you can't succeed."

"A common goal?" he asked, stopping, an eyebrow rising.

"Yes. The man's own investigation is nearing too close to my mother and her permanent location," she replied, stopping a fair distance away. She walked closer, just in case he attempted to run off again. "If he finds it . . ."

"Who is he?"

"You'll see when I get you into his base," she said snidely. "Besides, weren't you just running from me? I'm only doing this for my and my mother's benefit, but this meeting was an chance opportunity, particularly because you have something to get out of this as well."

Naruto stood silently, measuring how dangerous she would be if he had to fight her. Her body didn't seem like much of a fighter's . . . but then again, she was a Homunculus. If she didn't have an animal form, she probably had super strength like Tsunade or something. Besides the point, if he accepted her offer, they'd both get what they needed and none would be the wiser . . . but that wasn't really the shinobi way. He'd find a way to get the better deal later.

"Alright," he conceded, "you win the argument. First off, what's your name?"

"Why should I tell you?" she asked pompously. "It's common courtesy to introduce yourself first."

'_Reminds me of Sasuke during the beginning of the Chuunin Exams._'

"Fine. The name's Uzumaki Naruto. I asked because we were going to work together, but you seem like the loner type."

"Hmph. The name's Victoria, I'd rather keep the family name a secret."

'_Damn, no reaction . . . She's a tough nut._'

"Well, nice to meet you, Victoria. Don't get yourself killed," he said cheerfully while holding out his right hand.

"Che, who do you think I am, a small schoolgirl?" she growled, turning away from the invitation to shake hands. "Keep your hands to yourself. This is a one-time deal."

"You _do_ look like a small schoolgirl though," he mumbled to himself grumpily, looking away hotly.

xxxx

"_If you are out of trouble, watch for danger." Sophocles_

xxxx

Night time . . . tranquil, sometimes lonely . . . and the time when Kazuki trains.

"Busou Renkin!"

Kazuki held up the lance for a few moments, admiring its build in the shining moonlight. Returning to his task, he brought it down and placed himself into a combat stance, Busou Renkin at the ready.

'_Tokiko-san told me to get more sleep, but . . . there's only a week left.__I have to be able to use my lance freely by then,_' he resolved. '_Once that's accomplished, I can go after the Papillon Mask Creator . . . that is, if I can master using it freely in time. Otherwise, I'm going to have to go after him, whether or not I can use the lance freely._'

"Alright, just like yesterday! One-thousand thrusts!"

Just like that, he began thrusting the lance, as if repetition would help him use it freely. Perhaps he was going on the definition of freely as in using the lance quickly, and thus the arm training.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! . . ."

He didn't know whether or not the training would help. All he knew was that he needed to become stronger, to protect his precious people. It wouldn't matter if he didn't learn how to handle the lance freely through this method, he'd eventually find a way, and then, he would beat the Creator to a pulp. He promised himself that even if he didn't achieve his goal before the time limit was up, he'd do what was needed of him. He'd defeat whatever many Homunculi there were and save Tokiko from oblivion.

With this mindset, he continued the search during the second day of school. In the morning and between classes, he'd camp out in the third-year's hallway, keeping a sharp lookout. So far, his efforts were fruitless.

Tokiko did the same, looking through every P.E. class that showed up. She interchanged between looking through the third-year's classrooms with a pair of binoculars or lounging around on the second floor of the P.E. Building and inspecting every student.

Thus, the second day passed and ended, with no leads.

'_Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?!_' Kazuki thought, seriously frustrated.

By the third day, they'd looked through all of the third-year classes, with no success.

'_He's not here. He's not here!_' he realized, a feeling of intense dread falling upon him. Was this what failure felt like? To be unable to do a thing to help someone . . . a precious friend. The inability to assist was painful, and his heart throbbed. He didn't want to be useless, he wanted to help, and yet, nothing was being accomplished. Every night, he continued to practice, hoping that he would become better, hoping furiously. Naruto was gone and Tobi was unconscious. Without those two powerhouses, it was up to him.

'_Naruto . . . where are you?_'

xxxx

"_Troubles are like babies – they only grow by nursing." Douglas Jerrold_

xxxx

"So they've been looking all throughout the school for me, have hey? Kukuku . . ."

"We were still unable to identify the boy within official Renkin no Senshi files. It seems that he is either unregistered or a trainee, but even looking through the training records, he wasn't found," Washio informed, reporting the situation.

"For now, forget it, Washio," Creator told him. "We obviously have the upper hand. By continuing to bide our time, _she_ will eventually turn into a Homunculus, and my plans will finally come to fruition."

"And what if she kills herself before then?" the green-haired female Homunculus questioned.

"Ah well, a loss is a loss. Her transformation is nothing compared to . . . my _final_ goal," he waved off. "As soon as my body recovers, synthesize the research done until now." He gazed out into the center of the room, where a single incubator with a Homunculus matter sat. "We start the final experiment."

And so, the end of the fourth day heralded the coming of a gloomy Kazuki, fresh out of school for the day and feeling down.

"We can't find the Creator, and even my training isn't going anywhere," he sighed to himself as he walked along the street with Tokiko. "In fact, the muscle strain and lack of sleep is starting to have a negative effect on me . . . Where's Naruto and his huge vat of energy when you need him?"

"Don't make such a weak noise," Tokiko reprimanded, not turning.

"That's easy for_ you_ to say."

"Let's stop searching the school today," she told him, stopping and turning around. "We weren't able to find him. It's either a problem with our search methods or the location that we're looking for him in. In any case, we need to reorganize before starting up the search again. That will be better."

"I understand," Kazuki replied tiredly.

"Hey! Why are you so tired?!" Tokiko demanded, moving closer to inspect him. "There's still a chance, it's not time for you to give up yet! Besides . . . it's not as if the time up until now was wasted either. What we_ have_ been able to find out is that he hasn't moved at all during these four days, the side effect of raising his guard. Added to this, there haven't been any victims in four days either, as a result of our investigation."

"So, all we have to do now is to pinpoint his location, right?" he asked, cheering up a bit.

"Yeah. For tonight though, let's think of what we'll do after tomorrow, and how we should go about doing it. You're also extremely tired, so go get some rest."

"Mm," Kazuki agreed. "Alright then. I'll see you tomorrow!" he called out, running the opposite way, but only going a short distance before stopping to turn around briefly. "Tomorrow, we'll catch that creator for sure!"

She gave a rare smile at his antics, but it disappeared quickly enough when the entry point of the matter began to hurt badly, making her grimace.

"Mm, Tokiko-san is incredible. She displays so much willpower and calmness, she's truly worthy of being called a Renkin no Senshi . . .," he talked to himself. "On top of searching for the Creator though, I have to train as well . . . Oh! I should ask her about how I can use my Busou Renkin freely!"

With that, he turned around swiftly, running back to where he'd left her. What he saw when he got there was Tokiko using a pole as a support, her body hunched over and racked in pain. Kazuki could hear her pained gasps, and he saw her moving slowly, a testament to the willpower that he'd just mentioned.

'_Tokiko-san . . ._ '

He turned around swiftly, at the moment that she disappeared around a corner. Silhouetted by the setting sun was a young man with greenish eyes . . . it could also pass for dark teal. His hair was white, bordering silver, which spiked down in a cool sort of way. He wore a sleeveless violet shirt, and his pants were a pale aquamarine color, with purple sandals that were connected to purple leggings as one piece. He had a brown belt around his torso, a purple belt around his hips, and a second one around his waist, the one at the hips holding several water bottles.

"Well, well, well, I got separated from the rest but I seem to have stumbled across quite the interesting place," he purred in happiness. "So many people, so many people to take advantage of, but not enough . . . _me_."

The unknown individual poured out the contents of his water bottles, though hesitantly, but his hesitation vanished when the puddles of water deformed, reforming into exact replicas of him, each of them with a sinister grin.

"My first target, will be _you,_' he hissed out happily, taking out a large cleaver-like zanbatou from nowhere. "I'll enjoy chopping your limbs off," he finished, accompanied by lip-licking. "It's been a while since my bloodlust has been sated, and like I said before, I'll start with you."

In a blink of an eye, he had disappeared, reappearing behind Kazuki and his zanbatou already pulled back and swinging.

"Busou-"

"Not fast enough!"

xxxx

"_A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself." Chinua Achebe_

xxxx

"Time's running out," Victoria growled. "Are you going to take your sweet time doing this or will I have to throw you inside?"

"Hey, hey," he warned, setting down his binoculars. "Scouting is important for the success of a mission. There's about thirty Homunculi in the courtyard, and more inside, but that's irrelevant." Naruto jumped off of the twenty-foot-high wall that surrounded the compound in the center of the defense against unwanted intruders. The thing is, he hadn't put shinobi in mind when he made these walls. "Are you ready, Vicky?"

"Don't call me that, but yeah, I'm ready," the blond Homunculus replied. "When I give the signal, you make a break for the second floor, where the security should be the weakest, from my mother's calculations. I'll distract and hold them off in the meanwhile."

"My job is to destroy the files that he possesses inside of the basement, right?"

"Yeah. Once the Homunculi in the first floor leave to investigate what's going on outside, you sneak in and burn everything, it doesn't matter what it is."

"Roger."

". . . Go!"

Making a Kage Bunshin quickly, he transformed himself into a senbon, quite a difficult feat, and let his Bunshin take a hold of his transformed state. The Bunshin then hopped quickly up the wall, appearing over the maximum height for just two seconds to toss the senbon at the second floor before disappearing behind the wall again. Mission accomplished, it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Hey you!" Victoria called out to the Homunculi. "I have business here, and I'd prefer not to tear you all apart." Behind her was the ruined remains of the steel gate, now crumpled and torn apart as if it were a piece of paper. In response to her call, the masses of Homunculi charged her, screaming in delight at the sight of fresh meat, Homunculus, human, or otherwise. "Foolish," she muttered.

Meanwhile, Naruto traveled quickly and quietly down the set of stairs into the first floor. All of the Homunculi were going after Victoria, so he set himself to concentrate on the location of the secret room. Like before, he spread out his wind chakra, searching every crack and space in the room until he found it. This time, it was a switch in the floor. By stepping on it, a path leading underground opened up. Unlike last time, he took great care to close the secret door behind him.

He could hear the sound of battle, probably from Victoria taking out her frustration against him on her enemies. Yes, he _loved_ annoying people for fun.

"...sama, are you sure that there will be no interference?"

Naruto stopped quickly, going down the last few steps and hiding behind a corner. The voice was familiar, but he just couldn't place it.

"Yes, I'm sure. Soon, I'll be the master of this body, and not him. I will stop his intrusion, and become strong."

'_Body? Intrusion? I still can't seem to place it, but . . .__I've got a job to do._'

He slipped past the closed room and went off towards the deeper end of the compound, looking for the filing room. Luckily, Naruto came upon said room at the very end of the hall, though it was locked. Not a problem! After all, Kiba had taught him the ways of lock picking! There was no lock that either he or Kiba couldn't unlock! Pulling out his trusty – and lucky – hairpin, he placed it inside of the lock and began fiddling slightly, straining his ears for the telltale sounds of unlocking mechanisms.

'_There!_'

Naruto went inside, closing the door behind him. Flipping a switch, he was surprised at the sheer amount of paperwork that had been stacked inside of the room. The pieces of paper and folders created a makeshift tower that threatened to topple at any moment.

'_Oh well, I suppose I'm doing them a favor by incinerating these . . . Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!_'

The dozen or so fireballs spread out in an area of effect, hitting about two-thirds of the room and paperwork in the process. His mission was accomplished. Even if the enemy reacted swiftly, the majority of the information would be lost and would not be salvageable.

'_Time to make my getaway!_'

"Vicky, mission accomplished," he whispered into his headset. "I'm moving out."

"Hurry the hell up! And don't call me that!" she replied furiously. "You're taking too long, and starting to piss me off besides!"

"I never knew you were the temperamental type," Naruto shot back, smirking as he ran past the same room. "At first glance, you seem to be an ice-queen."

"I'm _not_ temperamental, only around your annoying self. I'm surprised that your friends don't think the same way."

"Oh, they do," he assured. "They do. Anyways, I'm out." He stepped out of the secret door and into the first floor, only to face a horde of Homunculi of varied animal shapes. "Uh, Vicky? I've run into a problem . . . a _big_ problem. Seems that a lot of them were waiting for me."

Naruto's blood ran cold when he realized what must've happened when he received no answer.

"V-Vicky?! Are you there?!"

No answer came from the headset, meaning that either she'd been killed (unlikely), or she'd retreated (why wouldn't she answer), or she'd just plain ditched him. That _whore_! Whatever it was, he'd get his revenge, and it'd be served cold, the way all revenge was supposed to be dished out.

"Uh, I'm sorry?" he tried meekly. They roared and jumped at him.

xxxx

"_In times of trouble and disaster, we turn to God for strength and comfort." Jerry Moran_

xxxx

**Clang.**

Kazuki stared in shock at the pair of clawed gauntlets that had stopped the zanbatou, barely. The owner was female, and wore a simple white, long-sleeved shirt and short cargo pants. Her hair was short and black, the majority tied up into a short ponytail while the rest of her hair hung in front of her face. Her piercing blue eyes were filled with resolve. It seemed as if she knew the guy's dangerousness. Grunting, she thrust her arms forward, pushing away the zanbatou and making the unknown and slightly shocked opponent step back a bit.

"Are you okay?" she demanded, not turning around to look at him. A flash of light behind her made her actually turn around, but her eyes widened at the sight of his Lance Busou Renkin.

"Thanks, whoever you are. I wasn't fast enough to summon it, and I would've been a goner."

"Ah, so there are two of you?" their opponent said sweetly, in a voice that reeked of murderous intent and said that he would kill them both if he were given the chance. "That's _perfect_! It evens up the odds a lot, doesn't it?"

Again, he did the disappearing act, but this time, he wasn't in sight.

"The ambush is always from the sky or from underground!" his female teammate shouted before grabbing him by the collar and jumping up into the air, just as the zanbatou came slashing through their previous standing spot.

"I won't let you get away!" the unknown enemy roared, before reaching back and sending his massive weapon into the air. The zanbatou spun in circles as it approached them, ready to tear them in half.

"Pierce, my Busou Renkin!" Kazuki yelled, the red sash turning gold. Roaring a battle cry, he thrust downwards, the point of his lance making contact with the edge of the hurtling blade.

'_H-He stopped it?!_' the white-haired individual thought. '_Che! I'll have to resort to _that'

With a single command, his lanky arm suddenly transformed into a muscled monstrosity. Catching the falling zanbatou by the hilt, he then leaped off of the ground and into the air above them. With the enhanced muscles to bear at the enemy, the blade came down upon them at three times the spot. Both Kazuki and the female used their Busou Renkin simultaneously to block, but the force of the impact was too strong, and it sent them both tumbling into the ground.

"Pathetic," he spat out as he landed on the floor softly, without so much as a noise to accompany it. "I thought that you two would be some fun to play with. Seems like I was wrong. Oh well," he muttered, shrugging, "Maybe that blue-haired girl will prove more challenging."

He raised the zanbatou with a single, muscular arm.

"Pass on to the other world peacefully."

And then he swung down with a single motion.

xxxx

"_A contented mind is the best source for trouble." Titus Maccius Plautus_

xxxx

Naruto ran like hell was chasing him down. Figuratively, it was. The horde of Homunculi were hot on his trail, always behind him and never giving him a moment's rest. He'd be damned if he were caught and killed by these things, but there so many of them! He dodged a snake form's jumping bite, an ape form's crushing fist, and a bear form's gaping maw. At least they weren't all snake forms, or this situation would've been even more hellish.

"Vicky! Vicky! Please don't abandon me! I promise to do what you ask of me next time!"

Silence.

'_Shit! God damn!_'

'_**You have reaped what you have sown.**_'

'_Shut the hell up, baka-kitsune! You say stuff like that when you're not doing anything!_'

'_**On the contrary, I have been biding my time and brain cells, to use in a situation such as this.**_'

'_Biding brain cells? You talk as if helping me out . . . makes you . . . stupider._'

'_**The correct term is 'more stupid', ahou.**_'

"-static- -aruto!"

"V-Victoria?!" Naruto exclaimed into the headset ecstatically. "What the hell have you been doing?"

"-static- interference . . . ! -static- -silence-"

". . ." Naruto sweatdropped and deadpanned at the same time. Was she toying with him or was there really interference? Actually, how do you get interference on flat ground unless there's a jammer of sorts? Well, there was the possibility that _someone_ was interfering with the reception, but that would be impossible unless they were ninja or Homunculi . . .

"-static- out . . . Watch -static- out!"

A shadow loomed behind him, and he leaped to the right swiftly, barely avoiding the werewolf Homunculus' massive strike. Wait a second . . . _werewolf?!_

"Where the hell are you, Victoria?" Naruto demanded, hopping back to avoid another strike.

The werewolf moved extremely fast, as if it were a ninja. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared again, reappearing behind him with its clawed hands raised. Abandoning the talk, he turned around and quickly pulled out two kunai, one in either hand, and attempted to block the single blow. It worked, to an extent, but it still hurt him, such was the extent of the force placed behind the blow. The ten-foot-tall behemoth roared unearthly as it charged directly towards Naruto, who was prepared this time with a jutsu.

'_Doton: Doryuuheki!_'

Though he wasn't as proficient with it as Jiraiya or Kakashi were, don't ask how Kakashi could do it with a face mask on, he was good enough with it to perform a barrier of an acceptable size. The mud that he spit out and hardened formed a wall that was ten feet in height, just large enough to match the werewolf. Where he couldn't improve in height, he could improve in width, so Naruto widened the barrier to a total of six feet.

**SLAM.**

Imagine the blond's surprise when the entire mud barrier cracked and blew apart upon impact, with the Homunculus continuing unchecked.

'_Holy shit-_'

The werewolf rammed its shoulder into him, and continued running. The blow knocked out Naruto's breath, but he managed to turn his head to see that they were closing rapidly with a wall.

'_Oh sh-_'

**SLAM.**

As with the barrier, it crashed through wall after wall, doing more damage to Naruto than itself.

"Holy shit, that thing is strong," he managed to cough out. "I've only got one way to survive this." He bit his thumb and began the process again, going through hand seals and slamming his right palm onto the ground. "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_!"

Like last time, a gama appeared, but this one was larger by about three feet, with heavier armor and two katana on its back. Seeing the werewolf Homunculus, its curious expression turned dark, and the gama pulled out both of its katana and placed them into an 'X' shape in front of itself.

"_Summoner, are you injured?_" the gama asked, its two eyes looking up at him questioningly.

"Not really," Naruto answered truthfully. "A broken rib or two, nothing serious. What _is_ serious though, is that thing in front of you," he told the gama as he pointed. "Don't show any mercy, or it'll likely take your life."

"_I understand._"

The werewolf lunged quickly, claws outstretched and fangs bared. The gama stepped back, narrowly avoiding a sharp swipe to the face, and countered with its right katana, raising it and swinging down quickly. The werewolf dodged it, but the gama followed up quickly with a horizontal swing of its left katana. It connected, slicing the Homunculus in two, but before Naruto could celebrate, the two separated pieces fused, repairing the werewolf. In mere seconds, it was whole again without even a single scratch remaining.

"Ah shit, this ain't good."

'_**It seems that, as you petty mortals say, the proverbial shit has just hit the fan.**_'

'_That just about sums this up._'

Roaring, it leaped into the air, the now darkening sky camouflaging it slightly. The gama was able to block the strike with its heavy armor thanks to the slight metallic sheen of the claws. Unfortunately, like before, the force behind the strike was very powerful, and the armor cracked slightly around the point of impact. Annoyed, the gama pumped chakra into its arms, enhancing its speed and slicing repeatedly at high speed into the werewolf. It continued until there were dozens of small lumps of flesh on the floor.

"_Perhaps it had super regeneration, but can it really recover after being injured faster than it could regenerate?_"

"Well, I don't want to find out. Get out of here," Naruto ordered, dispelling the gama.

"Not so fast, Naruto-kun."

He froze, almost as if he'd listened to the voice. No, he stopped for an entirely different reason. That voice . . .

"Yakushi . . . Kabuto . . ." Naruto growled out slowly. "That voice underground, I remember now. It was you, wasn't it?"

"Got it in one, Naruto-kun," the cloaked Kabuto said in a congratulatory tone. "I always did notice your intellectual change after those three years. Yes, I traveled here after extensive research and perfection of the former Orochimaru-sama's notes and previous research. You see, his ultimate goal was immortality, but it was never truly realized. In this world of Renkinjutsu, I can surpass Orochimaru-sama, by being what he so desired."

"Like I'd let you now that I know you're involved!" the blond snarled, going through hand seals. "I won't let you sick bastard do what you want! _Fuuton: Daitoppa_!"

The powerful wind washed over the Oto-nin, sending the hood of the cloak flying off and throwing the target of the jutsu back about a dozen feet. Kabuto's corroded face was revealed, this time an entire half of the face and not just around the eye. The pale white skin and yellow eyes of an Orochimaru trying to take over.

"Ah Naruto-kun, so rude. You should at least let me finish."

"Let you finish what?" Victoria asked, appearing behind him. "I've taken care of all of your . . . _subordinates_."

"There is one other shinobi that I captured and sent into this world, to check whether or not the dimensional portal was stable or not," Kabuto said, shrugging as if not caring. "He made it through alive, and so, I made my way in myself. With me gone, there is no one left who can manage the portal, I having burned the notes and set the device to self-destruct before I went through."

"You mean to say that no one else will be coming through?"

"I wondered how you were so similar to a Homunculus, Naruto," Victoria thought aloud. "Now it seems that you came from another world. Interesting."

"The specimen I sent in front of me . . . a fine specimen, just so you know, is probably already wreaking havoc," the white-haired individual informed. "The one you should be worrying about most however, is the one who possesses Momochi Zabuza's zanbatou . . . Suigetsu."

xxxx

"_In everything, the middle course is best: all things in excess bring trouble to men." Titus Maccius Plautus_

xxxx

Suigetsu frowned as yet another person interfered, blocking his strike and keeping him from drawing blood.

"I wondered what the commotion was all about," Tokiko muttered, panting.

She'd run all the way back, despite the pain, and activated her Busou Renkin just in time to save Kazuki and the other Renkin no Senshi. Tokiko didn't recognize her . . . probably a new recruit, but she'd have to question the girl later,_ after_ the threat was dealt with. While the large sword would've been a hindrance, the muscular arms kept it going at a fast enough speed to do massive amounts of damage while letting him defend himself appropriately and efficiently.

"Who are you?" the blue-haired girl demanded.

"Oh? Your ability seems better than those are two's," the white-haired male commented. "Heh! The name is Suigetsu, pleased to meet you." He bared his sharp teeth in a predatory grin as he raised the zanbatou again with his muscular arm and jumped back five feet. "You managed to block my strike, even though I've been genetically altered to have super strength. Therefore, I must kill you to regain my pride," Suigetsu announced. "On another note, I was planning to kill you after I finished those two off, anyway. Do me a favor and put up a good, bloody fight until I slice you up into pieces."

"Over my dead body!" she snarled, her eyes becoming heartless.

"That's exactly how I prefer it!" he yelled in return, jumping into the air. "I'll crush you!"

Tokiko jumped forward, dodging his aerial strike. Her four blades swung out, aiming for his arms first, but he parried them all with a wide swing of the zanbatou. Heaving back, he swung and let go of the large cleaver, sending it flying at Tokiko. She hopped onto the spinning zanbatou and hopped off of it again, now charging at the unarmed Suigetsu. The blades of her Valkyrie Skirt sliced into him consecutively.

"Hah! You're better than I thought!" His body reformed like water, reshaping itself into his unharmed body. "Though I'm sorry about that, but you won't be able to defeat me with such a thing."

"Pierce!"

Suigetsu back flipped, avoiding Kazuki's attack. The brunette's eyes widened when Suigetsu twisted in the air and connected a devastating kick to his head, sending him skidding across the floor.

"This is no fun," Suigetsu growled. "You're all too easy to play with." He caught the gauntlet of the other girl and brought his arm forward and down, slamming her into the ground. "See? Three against one, but you don't stand a chance."

One of Tokiko's blades flashed past his face, creating a shallow scratch and drawing blood. Suigetsu looked at it momentarily, then at the offender with narrowed eyes. His face twisted into a sick grin, his tongue flashing out to lap up the blood that slid down his face.

"Delicious, but yours will taste better," he hissed, holding out his left hand. "I'll cut off your fingers and toes first, and then your limbs, and finally your heads, until I'm satisfied with the amount of blood. I'll create a slaughter out of you three!"

Tokiko was about to retort when she felt a tingling sensation run through her. Adrenaline? She ducked her head, using her free arms to bring down Kazuki and the other girl with her, just as the zanbatou that Suigetsu had thrown earlier barreled over their heads, barely missing them. Had they not hit the ground, it would've cleaved them into two pieces at the torso. The large weapon was caught by Suigetsu, falling into his outstretched hand. Immediately, he set the blade on his right shoulder and charged forward, fully intent on chopping them up.

"I'll start with the brunette!" he screamed maniacally, swinging down with both of his arms in their muscled state.

Kazuki put up his lance in a feeble defense, but that was knocked down as if it were nothing, and he got a sprain in his arm to boot. Suigetsu stepped on the lance and punched the brunette in the gut twice with his left hand, ducking under one of Tokiko's swipes and taking up the zanbatou again to try and cleave her in half.

She jumped over it and went straight for him, but Suigetsu merely continued the swing until the blade came around again, forcing Tokiko back onto the defensive.

"Hah! You're pretty agile," he commented, rushing forward again. "However, will you be able to win just by dodging? Hm?!"

"Che!" Kazuki growled, finally recovering from the rapid blows that he'd suffered earlier. "We have the determination and advantage in numbers!"

"Quality over quantity, I always say," was the witty reply. "You could come at me with one-hundred of you, but it wouldn't make a difference! I'm above your level! You stand no-"

He stopped suddenly as he reached for one of the water bottles attached to his belt. Flipping the cap off, he began guzzling water, downing the entire bottle before replacing it carefully and wiping away at his mouth for any extra water. Suigetsu sighed, whether in relief or satisfaction, but his visage returned to its normal maniacal look.

"Anyways, you guys don't stand a chance!"

"W-Why did you suddenly need to drink so much water?" Kazuki asked, pointing.

"That's my secret to tell or withhold. Beat me, and I'll tell you, but the chances of that are . . . ZERO!"

'_When I attacked him earlier, he turned into water,_' Tokiko thought carefully. '_And now he was forced to stop talking and drink an entire large bottle's worth. There has to be some sort of relation. What if, to perform that water technique, he needs to also consume a lot of water. If we can hit him repeatedly over a long period of time,_' she realized, '_we can force him to fall back because of the lack of liquids in his body!_'

"Hm? You there, with the scar, you look like you've gotten a sudden revelation."

"Kazuki, distract him!" Tokiko yelled to him. "You, the other girl! Get your shots in when you see them! Don't go running in like a headless chicken!"

"Headless chicken?!" she yelled back. "I've never done that in the duration of the fight!"

"Well I'm warning you not to do it now! Kazuki, go!"

"Roger!" he yelled, taking up his lance with two hands. "I'll follow your orders, even if it means that I'll die, as long as he's defeated!"

The red sash began glowing a brilliant gold, far brighter than the previous times that this had happened. The determination in his eyes and his faith in his comrades practically rolled off of him, and the sash seemed to glow even brighter. It was as if the sash fed on his determination, releasing more energy in response to a greater flow of determination. Kazuki brought his lance down into a position where he could charge with it. He then proceeded to wrap the sash around the blade of the lance, amplifying the speed and damage that the direct charge could result in.

"Ah, finally you show some strength!" Suigetsu said in a satisfied tone. "Let's see what that lance of yours can do! Come!"

Without a word, Kazuki sprinted forward in a burst of speed that surprised even Suigetsu, though not much. He was a shinobi, and he would never be caught off guard by a mere civilian. Suigetsu nevertheless raised the zanbatou flat side out, holding the handle in his right hand and reinforcing the flat edge with his left palm. Both arms bulged with muscles and he spread his ground, prepared for any type of force that would impact the sword.

"Pierce!" the brunette roared, and at that moment, the sash around the lance's blade gave one last burst of light.

Suigetsu growled as the light temporarily blinded him. In that split second of disorientation, Kazuki's Busou Renkin rammed point-first into the flat of the zanbatou with such force that it began pushing the white-haired sword wielder back at a frightening speed.

'_W-What?!_' he exclaimed to himself. '_How the hell is he doing this? How is my strength being beaten?!_'

"Uraaaaah!"

Sliding the lance under the zanbatou, he pulled up, the zanbatou being thrown into the air. Because Kazuki's strength was stronger, Suigetsu was thrown off balance, his arms in the raised sky-high. The brunette then brought down the lance and stabbed forward, but it was dodged by a last second sidestep.

"That_ is_ strong, I've got to admit, but it's nothing without speed. If I can dodge it, the move becomes worthless."

Kazuki thrust again, Suigetsu dodging this time by hopping back, straight into the other girl's attack range. She came down from the sky and slammed her gauntlets into where he'd been only a second earlier, creating a medium-sized crater of about six to seven feet in diameter.

"Nice," he whistled appreciatively. "You remind of some of the PMSey kunoichi back ho-whoaaaa-me!" Suigetsu cried out, ducking under another swing of the gauntlet. "If you guys keep not being able to draw any more blood, then _I'll_ take my turn!"

Both the girl and Kazuki appeared on either side of him, charging forward. Suigetsu jumped, causing the two to slam into each other and fall into a crumpled heap onto the floor. He smirked at the sight, but frowned when a shadow fell over him. Before he could swing the heavy zanbatou, genetically enhanced muscles or not, Tokiko had sliced into him. His body turned into water, but she kept slicing. Suigetsu felt his watery eyes widen when he saw the steam. By the time, his mass had hit the floor and reformed into his body, Tokiko was already a safe distance away from any retaliation.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded, taking up the zanbatou. Squinting his eyes, he could see the blades of Tokiko's Valkyrie Skirt were red hot, having been heated up. '_Shit, she's trying to evaporate the water!_' Suigetsu realized. '_She's a clever one, finding the single weakness within my defense._' ". . . But that won't be good enough!" '_Suiton: Bakusui Shouha!_'

xxxx

"_Trouble shared is trouble halved." Dorothy L. Sayers_

xxxx

"S-Suigetsu?!" Naruto exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise. "You sent him here?!"

"Why, did I not already say so, Naruto-kun?" Kabuto replied mockingly. "Your hearing must be off, or maybe this lax world is rubbing of on you. So, what will you do? Will you stay and fight me, to prevent me from reaching my goal? Or will you return to the city, to protect your doomed friends?"

"You mean to tell me that Suigetsu is in Ginsei?"

"Why y-"

Naruto brushed past him as he sprinted towards the gate, not letting the Oto-nin finish.

". . . How rude," Kabuto muttered, his single yellow eye flashing in the darkness. "Well, what of you, H-" He turned around to see that Victoria had also left without making a single noise. "How annoying."

Naruto applied chakra to the soles of his sandals and throughout his legs, to improve the travel time to Ginsei. His cloak, brand new but tattered as a result of battle, fluttered behind him as he moved at speeds rivaling that of a car. Trees flashed past him as he continued at top speed, disregarding any fatigue that he might feel when he finally reached his destination.

'_Hang in there, Kazuki, Tokiko!_'

"Hey!" Victoria called out to him from quite a distance behind him. She'd been traveling by means of sprinting through the forest floor, and while it was less efficient then tree-hopping, it was the only way a non-shinobi could possibly keep up. "Why did you suddenly run off like that?"

"How can you even keep up with me?" the blond shinobi replied, shooting off his own question.

"Homunculus, remember?"

"Aside from that, we need to hurry," Naruto told her. "Suigetsu is no pushover. I've seen him fight."

"Well, how does he fight?" she asked him.

"From what I saw in the only battle that I've seen him fight in, he uses brute strength Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu to overwhelm the enemy, using a special defense to counter his opponent's offense. When he gets hit, his body turns into water, eventually turning back into skin and flesh in a few seconds if he's not attacked again. He needs to consume a lot of water to keep up that defense, but he's usually good enough to defeat his opponent before he runs out of water."

"How do you beat him then?"

"You either burn him up with a really big jutsu, get him on the defensive and keep slicing and dicing, or you take away all of his water," Naruto listed off. "It's really easy to say that, but it's another story to actually do it on the guy."

"And that's just to bypass the defense, right?"

"Right!" the blond shinobi confirmed. "After beating his defense, you have to beat _him_, which is a pain in the ass!"

The forest around them eventually gave way into the countryside. Farms and houses became more common as Victoria and Naruto continued running, and when they saw the light cloud of smog in the air, they knew that they were approaching Ginsei. Really, any city would have a thin screen of the car-related smog, but Ginsei was the only city near Kabuto's temporary base. Like Orochimaru, Naruto knew, Kabuto was always on the move, never staying in one place too long lest he be discovered.

"I normally would've left you by now, but I'm intrigued with this Suigetsu guy," Victoria told him. "I want to see for myself what he's like."

"He's a cocky bastard," Naruto said bluntly.

"That's a given, if he's anything like you," she replied just as bluntly. "If you ask me, you're an overconfident idiot as well."

"Hey!"

xxxx

"_Never wait for trouble." Chuck Yeager._

xxxx

Suigetsu had taken a deep breath and was prepared to spit out large amounts of chakra, just like Kisame, when a sudden yell caught his ears.

"Hey!"

He looked up and would've gone slack-jawed if it weren't for the fact that his mouth was about to burst with water. Suigetsu leaped back, avoiding the hail of kunai and shuriken easily. He thought that perhaps the opponent was a newbie, that's what he thought, until the offender appeared in front of him and jabbed him in the gut with a quick punch. The white-haired Kenjutsu user gagged as he breathed out, spilling large quantities of water as he did so. Canceling the jutsu and swallowing what water he had left, he glared at the newcomer.

"Why don't you pick on someone of your own skill level," Naruto baited, "Houzuki Suigetsu."

"You know my full name," the person of interest replied scathingly. "That makes you a shinobi. Any fool can throw around ninja weaponry, but you know _my_ name, and nobody here should."

"I'm going to defeat you, here and now! I know all about your relation with Sasuke-teme!"

"Sasuke . . . teme?" Suigetsu repeated. "Hehehahahahahahaa!" he roared in laughter. "Ah yes, I know who you are now. The infamous Kyuubi jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Naruto!" Pointing with his left, he placed the zanbatou carefully on his right shoulder. "I have no idea where I am. That god damned Kabuto got me with a big force of Oto-nin, forcing me into the damned machine, but anyways, I'm taking you down and I'm going to add your head to my collection."

Roaring, he took the zanbatou with both of his muscular arms and swung with all of his monstrous strength. Naruto ran forward, ducking smoothly under the swing and pulling out two kunai. Suigetsu let his right hand leave the handle, swinging his fist clockwise. In response, the blond shinobi hopped over both the fist and Suigetsu, landing softly on the other side. Naruto quickly lashed out with the kunai in his left, slashing into the water-like body that Suigetsu possessed.

"In battle, I can make myself feel nothing," the blond said dully. "I can sacrifice my emotions completely to accomplish my objective."

"Such is the way of shinobi," Suigetsu replied scathingly. "You're starting to sound like that Haku wimp."

Naruto's posture and stance stiffened, his eyes turning stone cold.

"**Don't you **_**dare**_** insult him.**"

"And what if I do? Can you stop me?"

The blond jinchuuriki flickered behind the white-haired sword user, his eyes red and slitted. Suigetsu was surprised at the speed and the sight of the eyes, but only for a moment. Unfortunately, that single moment cost him his chance to defend. Naruto roared, his right hand shooting forward to grab his opponent by the neck, attempting to choke the zanbatou wielder. Suigetsu attempted to pry off Naruto's arms, but the fiery red chakra that began coating the arms burned his skin at a single touch. Also, if he tried to turn into water right now, the superheated chakra would evaporate everything.

'_Shit, shit, shit! What a crappy time to be placed in 'check'! I shouldn't have provoked him like that!_'

"**I'll . . . I'll . . . I'll **_**kill you**_**! I'll crush your throat!**" Naruto growled, tightening his grip, pushing Suigetsu against the wall roughly.

"Heh," Suigetsu chuckled out, amazingly, "You really got me good. You're the winner, as long as you kill me, but what about your friends?"

Suigetsu had managed to perform the _Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu_, using the water from the failed _Suiton: Bakusui Shouha_, creating Bunshin to surround Tokiko, Kazuki, and the other girl. Each one had their zanbatou out, holding them up to show that they could take the lives of their captives at any moment. Seeing this, Naruto's vision began to blur. He was still in a state where he could recognize comrades, but his bloodlust was flowing too heavily for him to be able to decide clearly. Should he kill the one that had insulted Haku and his existence, or should he save his recently-made friends and one stranger?

'_**Gyahahaha! Kill them **_**all**' Kyuubi roared. '_**Comrades are useless if they can't fight! Let them all die!**_'

'_But . . . but . . . they're my . . ._'

'_**Friends that need protection? That require your constant attention? That are useless?**_'

'_That might be true, but . . ._'

"Well? Have you decided?" Suigetsu questioned with a smirk, though he was beginning to turn blue from lack of oxygen. "Go ahead, kill me, but my Bunshin will live long enough to kill your friends. There's two options and one choice, Uzumaki Naruto."

"**No**," Naruto whispered, looking down, "**I won't.**"

"Come again?"

"I won't sacrifice their lives!" he shouted, turning his head back up to reveal sapphire-blue eyes. "It doesn't matter whether or not I know them or I don't! They are people, precious or not, and I will protect them! I won't sacrifice them! _I won't!_"

The several Mizu Bunshin all dissipated into water, resulting from weapon strikes. From behind them were Naruto's Bunshin, created from the _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_.

"How-" started Suigetsu, but was interrupted by being thrown onto the floor.

Stepping on Suigetsu's chest so as to prevent movement, Naruto began the hand seals to perform the _Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu_.

"H-Hey! W-W-Wait just a s-second!" the target in question cried out.

Ignoring this, Naruto let out the flames that were welling in his gut and mouth, fully intent on killing Suigetsu.

"W-Wait!"

xxxx

"_Wise are they who have learned these truths: Trouble is temporary. Time is tonic. Tribulation is a test tube." William A. Ward_

xxxx

AN: Sorry for the late update. First, I read the entire Black Cat manga volume set in three days, and watched all of Zero no Tsukaima in two days. So far, I've watched about ten episodes, or half of Shakugan no Shana in a single day. Argh, I'm becoming an anime/manga addict! Also, I hit a bit of writer's block in this AU chapter, where everything starts branching off from the actual storyline. Suigetsu! Mwah, cool Suigetsu! And you all thought it was Orochimaru, didn't you? Hah! Orochimaru is dead, and Kabuto is the new super villain now!!! Wahahahaahahahahaaha!

**Vocabulary**

Zanbatou – Horse Slaying Sword

**Jutsu List**

_General_

**Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique) –**E-Rank – This jutsu warrants a rank of E because any and all ninja of all levels and ranks know this jutsu. Essentially, the user uses chakra to create an illusion that makes them appear to be something else. Because of the effect of the illusion on the user's mind, it makes them believe that whatever they are feeling is actually real, and that whatever weight is real, when in actuality, it is just the same as before. This jutsu classifies in both the Genjutsu and Ninjutsu departments. Skilled ninja learn to notice others under the effect of Henge, particularly because the complexity of the transformation effects the amount of chakra placed into the jutsu, and as such, making it more noticeable.

**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)** – B-Rank – Unlike the normal Bunshin no Jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu creates real flesh-and-blood copies of the user. They can fight, experience emotions, and perform jutsu just like the user. When using jutsu though, they have to use the store of chakra that was placed in them during creation. The amount of chakra in Kage Bunshin can be altered. Any information and mental experience that the Kage Bunshin experiences is also passed on to the user when they are killed or dispelled, which makes it particularly useful for missions involving reconnaissance and stealth.

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) –**C-Rank – The user, after making a blood pact with an animal group, draws blood on their signing hand and performs hand seals. They then slam their hand into something solid, preferably the ground, to summon a creature from another plane of existence. The size and strength of the creature are comparable to the amount of chakra used in the summoning, and the amount of control exercised. Each animal group has a 'king' the strongest of that animal.

_Earth_

**Doton: Doryuuheki (Earth Release: Earth Encampment Wall) –**B-Rank – In the same process as many Katon jutsu, the user transforms chakra welled up in their gut into mud, which they then spit out onto the ground. The mud then hardens rapidly into a solid wall, the height and width of the barrier depending solely on the amount of chakra used to perform the jutsu. It's real weakness is brute force that can break through the barrier or a jutsu of the Raiton group.

_Fire_

**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique) – **C-Rank – Similar to the Doryuuheki, the user releases pent-up chakra from their gut and manipulates the chakra into flames as the chakra enters the throat, thus breathing out fire. Depending on the force that the flames are expelled, the fireball will either stay put or begin moving on a path of destruction. The size of the fireball is relative to the amount of chakra used in the jutsu, and is one of Konohagakure's most basic Katon jutsu.

**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Mythical Fire Flower Technique) –** C-Rank – Like the Goukakyuu no Jutsu, the user performs hand seals and gathers their chakra in their gut, transforming it into fire using the most basic of nature manipulation. By breathing it out through the chakra-coated windpipe, which is there to prevent severe burning, the user can breathe out anywhere from half a dozen to several fireballs, depending on the amount of chakra used. This jutsu is normally used as support or as a distraction, to set the stage for a more powerful one.

_Water_

**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Technique) –**C-Rank – Unlike Kage Bunshin, Mizu Bunshin cannot retrieve and distribute information, nor can it think for itself. They can still fight and perform jutsu, but Mizu Bunshin are created with only one-tenth of the power of the original. Also, this jutsu can only be performed near a body of water, and Mizu Bunshin cannot stray too far from it or suffer the consequence of being automatically dispelled. Even still, like all other Bunshin, they cannot travel far from the user, or the commands will not reach them and they will dispel.

**Suiton: Bakusui Shouha (Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave) –**Unique – A jutsu of the same origin as the Nidaime Hokage, and previously only performed by Hoshikage Kisame, this jutsu allows the user, like in Katon jutsu, to transform chakra into water and release it in mass quantities. With enough chakra, entire battlefields can be created, destroyed, or changed as the user desires. Unfortunately, it is impossible for normal ninja to create water from chakra, a skill only a select few are born with, thus, ninja with this skill are highly prized and contested for.


End file.
